Part 29

_The Transverse Flute_ or _German Flute_ (Fr. _flute traversiere_, _flute allemande_: Ger. _Flote_, _Querflote_, _Zwerchpfeiff_, _Schweitzerpfeiff_; Ital. _flauto traverso_) includes the _concert flute_ known both as flute in C and as flute in D, the piccolo (q.v.) or octave flute, and the fife (q.v.). The modern flute consists of a tube open at one end and nominally closed at the other by means of a plug or cork stopper: virtually, however, the tube is an open one giving the consecutive harmonic series of the open pipe or of a stretched string. The primitive flute was made in one piece, but the modern instrument is composed of three adjustable joints. (1) The head-joint, plugged at the upper end and containing at about one-third of the length the mouth-hole or embouchure. This embouchure, always open when the instrument is being played, converts the closed tube into an open one, in an acoustical sense. (2) The body, containing the holes and keys necessary to produce the scale which gave the flute its original designation of D flute, the head and body together, when the holes are closed, giving the fundamental note D. Before the invention of keys, this fundamental note and the notes obtained by the successive opening of the six holes produced the diatonic scale of D major. All other semitones were obtained by what is known as cross fingering (Fr. _doigte fourchu_; Ger. _Gabelgriffe_). It became usual to consider this the typical fingering nomenclature, whatever the fundamental note given out by the flute, and to indicate the tonality by the note given out when the six lateral holes are covered by the fingers. The result is that the tonality is always a tone lower than the name of the instrument indicates. Thus the D flute is really in C, the F flute is E[flat], &c. (3) The foot-joint or tail-joint containing the two additional keys for C[sharp] and C which extend the compass downwards, completing the chromatic scale of C in the fundamental octave.

The compass of the modern flute is three octaves with chromatic semitones from [notes] to [notes]. The sound is produced by holding the flute transversely with the embouchure turned slightly outwards, the lower lip resting on the nearer edge of the embouchure, and blowing obliquely across, not into, the orifice. The flat stream of air from the lips, known as the air-reed, breaks against the sharp outer edge of the embouchure. The current of air, thus set in a flutter, produces in the stationary column of air within the tube a series of pulsations or vibrations caused by the alternate compression and rarefaction of the air and generating sounds of a pitch proportional to the length of the stationary column, which is practically somewhat longer than the length of the tube.[1] The length of this column is varied by opening the lateral finger-holes. The current or air-reed thus acts upon the air column within the flute, without passing through the tube, as a plectrum upon a string, setting it in vibration. The air column of the flute is the sound-producer, whereas in instruments with reed mouthpieces the vibrating reed is more properly the sound-producer, while the air column, acting as a resonating medium, reinforces the note of the reed by vibrating synchronously with it. If the angle[2] at which the current of air is directed against the outer edge of the embouchure be made less acute and the pressure of the breath be at the same time increased, the frequency of the alternate pulses of compression and rarefaction within the tube will be increased two, three or fourfold, forming a corresponding number of nodes and loops which results in harmonics or upper partials, respectively the octave, the twelfth, the double octave. By this means sounds of higher pitch are produced without actually shortening the length of the column of air by means of lateral holes. The acoustic theory of sound-production in the flute is one on which there is great diversity of opinion. The subject is too vast to be treated here, but readers who wish to pursue it may consult the works of Rockstro,[3] Helmholtz,[4] and others.[5] The effect of boring lateral holes in pipes is to shorten the vibrating length of the air column, which may be regarded as being effective only between the hole in question and the mouthpiece. In order to obtain this result the diameter of the hole should be equal to that of the bore; as long as the holes were covered by the fingers, this was obviously impossible. The holes, therefore, being smaller than the laws of acoustics demand, have to be placed proportionally nearer the mouthpiece in order to avoid deepening the pitch and deadening the tone. This principle was understood by wind-instrument makers of classic Greece (see AULOS and CLARINET), and has been explained by Chladni[6] and Gottfried Weber.[7]

The bore of the early flute with six finger-holes was invariably cylindrical throughout, but towards the end of the 17th century a modification took place, the head joint alone remaining cylindrical while the rest of the bore assumed the form of a cone having its smallest diameter at the open end of the tube. The conoidal bore greatly improved the quality of tone and the production of the higher harmonics of the third octave. Once the conical bore had been adopted, the term flute was exclusively applied to the new instruments, the smaller flutes, then cylindrical, used in the army being designated fife (q.v.). At the present day in England, France and America, the favourite mode of construction is that introduced by Theobald Boehm, and known as the "cylinder flute with the parabolic head," of which more will be said further on. The successive opening of the holes and keys on the flute produces the chromatic scale of the first or fundamental octave. By increasing the pressure of the breath and slightly altering the position of the lips over the mouth-hole, the same fingering produces the notes of the fundamental octave in the next octave higher. The third octave of the compass is obtained by the production of the higher harmonics (Fr. _sons harmoniques_; Ger. _Flageolettone_), of the fundamental scale, facilitated by the opening of certain of the finger-holes as "vent holes." The quality of tone depends somewhat on the material of which the flute is made; silver and gold produce a liquid tone of exquisite delicacy suitable for solo music, cocus-wood and ebonite a rich mellow tone of considerable power suitable for orchestral music. The tone differs further in the three registers, the lowest being slightly rough, the medium sweet and elegiac, and the third bird-like and brilliant. The proportions, position and form of the stopper and of the air chamber situated between it and the embouchure are mainly influential in giving the flute its peculiar slightly hollow timbre, due to the paucity of the upper partials of which according to Helmholtz[8] only the octave and twelfth are heard. Mr Blaikley[9] states, however, that when the fundamental D is played, he can discern the seventh partial. The technical capabilities of the flute are practically unlimited to a good player who can obtain sustained notes diminuendo and crescendo, diatonic and chromatic scales and arpeggios both legato and staccato, leaps, turns, shakes, &c. By the articulation with the tongue of the syllables _te-ke_ or _ti-ke_ repeated quickly for groups of double notes, or of _te-ke-ti_ for triplets, an easy effective staccato is produced, known respectively as _double_ or _triple tonguing_, a device understood early in the 16th century and mentioned by Martin Agricola,[10] who gives the syllables as _de_ for sustained notes, di-ri for shorter notes, and _tel-lel-lel_ for staccato passages in quick tempo.[11]

Musical instruments, such as flutes, in which a column of air is set in vibration by regular pulsations derived from a current of air directed by the lips of the executant against the side of the orifice serving as embouchure, appear to be of very ancient origin. The Hindus, Chinese and Japanese claim to have used these modes of blowing from time immemorial. The ancient Egyptians had a long pipe held obliquely and blown across the end of the pipe itself at its upper extremity; it was known as _Saib-it_[12] and was frequently figured on the monuments. The same instrument, called "nay," is still used in Mahommedan countries. The oblique aulos of the Greeks, plagiaulos,[13] was of Egyptian origin and was perhaps at first blown from the end as described above,[14] since we know that the Greeks were familiar with that method of blowing in the syrinx or pan-pipe. The instruments preserved at the British Museum[15] having lateral embouchures show, however, that they were also acquainted--probably through the Hindus--with the transverse flute, although in the case of these specimens a reed must have been inserted into the mouth-hole or no sound would have been obtained.

The high antiquity of a lateral embouchure in Europe is generally admitted; the flute evidently penetrated from the East at some period not yet determined. A transverse flute is seen on Indian sculptures of the Gandhara school showing Greek influence, and dating from the beginning of our era (fig. 3). But although the transverse flute was evidently known to the Greeks and Romans, it did not find the same favour as the reed instruments known as auloi. We have no evidence of the survival of the transverse flute after the fall of the Roman empire until it filtered through from Byzantine sources during the early middle ages. Instances of the flute occur on a group of caskets[16] of Italo-Byzantine work of the 9th or 10th century, while of purely Byzantine origin we find examples of flutes in Greek MSS.[17] preserved in Paris, at the British Museum and elsewhere. There is moreover in the cathedral of St Sophia at Kiev[18] an orchestra depicted on frescoes said to date from the 11th century; among the musicians is a flautist.

The first essentially western European trace of the transverse flute occurs in a German MS. of the 12th century, the celebrated _Hortus deliciarum_ of the abbess Herrad von Landsperg.[19] Fol. 221 shows a syren playing upon the transverse flute, which Herrad explains in a legend as _tibia_; in the vocabulary the latter is translated swegel. In the 13th century it occurs among the miniatures of the fifty-one musicians in the beautiful MS. _Las Cantigas de Santa Maria_ in the Escorial, Madrid.[20] Eustache Deschamps, a French poet of the 14th century, in one of his ballads, makes mention of the "flute traversaine," and we are justified in supposing that he refers to the transverse flute. It had certainly acquired some vogue in the 15th century, being figured in an engraving in Sebastian Virdung's celebrated work,[21] where it is called "Zwerchpfeiff," and, with the drums, it already constituted the principal element of the military music. Agricola (op. cit.) alludes to it as the "Querchpfeiff" or "Schweizerpfeiff," the latter designation dating, it is said, from the battle of Marignan (1515), when the Swiss troops used it for the first time in war.

From Agricola onwards transverse flutes formed a complete family, said to comprise the discant, the alto and tenor, and the bass--[notes] or [notes] respectively. Praetorius[22] designates the transverse flute as "Flauta traversa' Querpfeiff" and "Querflot," and gives the pitch of the bass in [notes] the tenor and alto in [notes] and the discant in [notes] as varieties then in use. A flute concert at that time included two discants, four altos or tenors, and two basses. The same author distinguishes between the "Traversa" and the "Schweizerpfeiff" or fife (which he also calls "Feldpfeiff," i.e. military flute), although the construction was the same. There were two kinds of "Feldpfeiff," in [notes] and [notes] respectively; they were employed exclusively with the military drum.

Mersenne's[23] account of the transverse flute, then designated "flute d'Allemagne" or "flute allemande" in France, and an "Air de Cour" for four flutes in his work lead us to believe that there were then in use in France the soprano flute in [notes] the tenor or alto flute in [notes] and the bass flute descending to [notes]. The museum of the Conservatoire Royal of Brussels possesses specimens of all these varieties except the last. All of them are laterally pierced with six finger-holes; they have a cylindrical bore, and are fashioned out of a single piece of wood. Their compass consists of two octaves and a fifth. Mersenne's tablature for fingering the flute differs but little from those of Hotteterre-le-Romain[24] and Eisel[25] for the diatonic scale; he does not give the chromatic semitones and the flute had as yet no keys.

The largest bass flute in the Brussels museum is in [notes] at the French normal pitch A 435 double vibrations per second. It measures 0.95 m. from the centre of the blow orifice to the lower extremity of the tube. The disposition of the lateral holes is such that it is impossible to cover them with the fingers if the flute is held in the ordinary way. The instrument must be placed against the mouth in an almost vertical direction, inclining the extremity of the tube either to the right or the left. This inconvenient position makes it necessary that the instrument should be divided into two parts, enabling the player to turn the head joint that the embouchure may be most commodiously approached by the lips, which is not at all easy. The first and fourth of the six lateral holes are double in order to accommodate both right- and left-handed players, the holes not in use being stopped up with wax. The bass flute shown in fig. 4 is the facsimile of an instrument in the Museo Civico of Verona. The original, unfortunately no longer fit for use, is nevertheless sufficiently well preserved to allow of all its proportionate measurements being given. The lowest note, E[flat], is obtained with a remarkable amplitude of sound, thus upsetting a very prevalent opinion that it is impossible to produce by lateral insufflation sounds which go a little lower than the ordinary limit downwards of the modern orchestral flute.[26]

The bass flute cited by Mersenne should not differ much from that of the Museo Civico at Verona. We suppose it to have been in [notes], and that it was furnished with an open key like that which was applied to the recorders (_flutes douces_) of the same epoch, the function of the key being to augment by another note the compass of the instrument in the lower part. A bass flute in G similar to the one in fig. 5 is figured and described in Diderot and D'Alembert's encyclopaedia [27] (1751). According to Quantz,[28] it was in France and about the middle of the 17th century that the first modifications were introduced in the manufacture of the flute. The improvements at this period consisted of the abandonment of the cylindrical bore in favour of a conical one, with the base of the cone forming the head of the instrument. At the same time the flute was made of three separate pieces called head, body, and tail or foot, which were ultimately further subdivided. The body or middle joint was divided into two pieces, so that the instrument could be tuned to the different pitches then in use by a replacement with longer or shorter pieces. It was probably about 1677, when Lully introduced the German flute into the opera, that recourse was had for the first time to keys, and that the key of D# was applied to the lower part of the instrument.[29] The engraving of B. Picart, dated 1707, given in Hotteterre's book, represents the flute as having reached the stage of improvement of which we have just spoken. In 1726 Quantz,[30] finding himself in Paris, had a second key applied to the flute, placed nearly at the same height as the first, that of the [notes], intended to differentiate the D# and the E[flat].[31] This innovation was generally well received in Germany, but does not appear to have met with corresponding success in other countries. In France and England manufacturers adopted it but rarely; in Italy it was declared useless.[32] About the same time flutes were constructed with the lower extremity lengthened sufficiently to produce the fundamental C, and furnished with a supplementary key to produce the C[sharp]. This innovation, spoken of by Quantz,[33] did not meet with a very favourable reception, and was shortly afterwards abandoned. Passing mention may be made of the drawing of a flute with a C key in the _Music-Saal_ of J.F.B. Majer (Nuremberg, 1741), p. 45.

The tuning of the instrument to different pitches was effected by changes in the length, and notably by substituting a longer or shorter upper piece in the middle joint. So wide were the differences in the pitches then in use that seven such pieces for the upper portion of it were deemed necessary. The relative proportions between the different parts of the instrument being altered by these modifications in the length, it was conceived that the just relation could be re-established by dividing the foot into two pieces, below the key. These two pieces were adjusted by means of a tenon, and it was asserted that, in this way, the foot could be lengthened proportionately to the length of the middle joint. Flutes thus improved took the name of "flutes a registre." The register system was, about 1752, applied by Quantz to the head joint[34] and, the embouchure section being thus capable of elongation, it was allowable to the performer, according to the opinion of this professor, to lower the pitch of the flute a semitone, without having recourse to other lengthening pieces, and without disturbing the accuracy of intonation.

The upper extremity of the flute, beyond the embouchure orifice, is closed by means of a cork stopper. On the position of this cork depends, in a great measure, the accurate tuning of the flute. It is in its right place when the accompanying octaves [notes] are true. Quantz, in speaking of this accessory, mentions the use of a nut-screw to give the required position to the cork.[35] He does not name the inventor of this appliance, but, according to Tromlitz,[36] the improvement was due to Quantz himself. The invention goes back to 1726.

When the _Method_ of Quantz appeared there were still in use, besides the orchestral flute in D, the little fourth flute in G, the low fourth flute in A, and the flute d'amour a note higher; in France they had, moreover, the little octave flute in D (octave). A bass flute in D had also been attempted (see fig. 5). When Ribock published his _Bemerkungen uber die Flote_[37] the flute had already the five keys here shown. [notes] This author states that the inventor of these new keys is not known to him, but that either Kusder, a musical instrument-maker in London, or Johann Georg Tromlitz of Leipzig was the originator, since he has not been able to trace those keys on the flutes of any other maker. Although Tromlitz does not claim for himself the invention of the keys for F, G[sharp] and B[flat], he states that "he had occupied himself for several years in applying these keys so as not to augment the difficulty of playing, but on the contrary to render the handling of them as easy as possible."[38] In the later work published in 1800,[39] however, he seems to attribute the invention of these keys to Richard Potter of London; he says that he has never yet been fortunate enough to come across a good flute by that maker--"the flute has certainly gained by the addition of the keys for F, G[sharp] and B[flat], but this is not everything, for on such a flute much must perforce be left unattempted.... Only a flute with eight keys according to my invention is capable of everything." It would seem, moreover, from circumstantial evidence stated clearly and on good authority by Rockstro[40] that the keys for F, G[sharp] and B[flat] must have been used first in England and made by Richard Potter before 1774. The higher key of C adopted from 1786 by Tromlitz, we believe to have been first recommended by Ribock (1782).[41] Tromlitz in _Uber Floten_ describes at length what may be termed the first systematic effort to overcome the difficulties created by the combination of open holes and closed keys. He attempted to solve the question by determining the positions of the holes according to the exigencies of fingering instead of subordinating them to the more arbitrary theories connected with the musical scale.

In 1785 Richard Potter improved Quantz's slide applied to the head joint as well as to the register of the foot by a double system of tubes forming double sliding air-tight joints. In the document[42] describing this improvement Potter patented the idea of lining the holes with silver tubes and of adapting metal conical valves to the keys. Potter's patent conical valves were an adaptation of the contrivance first invented by J.F. Boie or Boye of Gottingen,[43] who used pewter for the plugs, and silver for lining the holes. The keys mentioned in the patent were four--D[sharp], F, G[sharp], A[sharp]. The idea of extending the compass of the flute downwards was taken up again about the same time by two players of the flute in London named Tacet and Florio. They devised a new disposition of the keys C and C#, and confided the execution of their invention to Potter. In Dr Arnold's _New Instructions for the German Flute_ occurs a tablature, the engraving of which goes back to the end of the 18th century, and bears the following title, "A Complete Drawing and Concise Scale and Description of Tacet and Florio's new invented German Flute, with all the additional keys explained." It explains the use of six keys--C, C#, D#, F, G#, A#--that are not always figured, because the employment of so many keys was at once admitted. Tromlitz himself, who, however, made flutes with nine keys--adding E[flat], another F, and C[natural], declared that he was not in favour of so great a complication, and that he preferred the flute with only two keys, D[sharp] and E[flat], with a register foot joint and a cork nut-screw at the head joint. This instrument met all requirements. He was always much opposed to the use of the old keys for C[natural] and C[sharp], because they altered the recognised quality of tone of the instrument. When Tromlitz published his method, the family of flutes had become modified. It comprehended only the typical flute in D, the flute d'amour a minor third lower, a "third" flute a minor third higher, and, finally, the little octave flute.