The transverse flute and its features

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The transverse flute is a musical instrument made of wood. It belongs to the brass and belongs to the soprano register. The pitch of the sound is changed by blowing. Also, during the game, opening and closing of holes with valves occurs.

General information

Bamboo transverse flute is a rather rare occurrence today, since modern musical instruments of this type are usually made of metal (platinum, gold, silver, nickel), sometimes also glass, plastic or other composite materials. The range is over three octaves. Notes for the transverse flute are written in the treble clef, based on the actual sound. The timbre is transparent and clear in the middle register, deaf in the lower register, and somewhat sharp in the upper one. The flute is available in a variety of techniques. Often she performs an orchestral solo. It is used in wind and symphony orchestras. Also used in chamber ensembles. Symphony orchestras use from 1 to 5 flutes. More often, their number is from two to three.

Tool history

The transverse flute has been known to mankind for a long time. The earliest depiction of her was found on an Etruscan relief. It was created in 100 or 200 BC. Then the tool was directed to the left. Only in an illustration for a 16th-century poem is it held to the right.

Middle Ages

The transverse flute is also found in archaeological excavations. The first such finds in Western Europe date back to the 12th-14th centuries. ad. One of the earliest images from that time is contained in the pages of an encyclopedia called Hortus Deliciarum. Researchers suggest that the instrument temporarily fell into disuse in Europe, and then returned there, coming from Asia, through the Byzantine Empire. In the Middle Ages, the construction consisted of a single component, sometimes there were two of them. The tool had a cylindrical shape, as well as six holes of the same diameter.

Renaissance and Baroque

The transverse flute did not change much in the design in the subsequent period. The instrument had a range of 2.5 octaves. He allowed to take the entire list of notes of the chromatic scale with a good command of the fingering. The last one was very difficult. The middle register sounded best. Known original instruments of this type are kept in Verona in a museum called Castel Vecchio. The baroque era has begun. The first significant changes to the design of the instrument were made by the Otteter family. Its representative, Jacques Martin, divided the flute into 3 parts. Subsequently, there were 4 of them. The body of the instrument, asusually divided in half. The otteter changed the drilling to conical. Thus, intonation between octaves has been improved.

In the 18th century, a large number of valves were added to the instrument. As a rule, there are 4 - 6 of them. Important innovations were made by Johann Joachim Quantz and Georg Tromlitz. During the life of Mozart, the transverse flute, which has one valve, was most often used. By the beginning of the 19th century, the number of these elements began to increase rapidly. The music for this instrument is more virtuosic. Additional valves, in turn, made it easier to play the most difficult passages.

There were many design options. In France, the flute with five valves was popular. In England there were 7 or 8. In Italy, Austria and Germany there were many different systems. Here the number of valves could reach 14 or even more. The tools received the names of the inventors: Ziegler, Schwedler, Meyer. There were valve systems made specifically to facilitate this or that passage. In the 19th century, Viennese-type flutes were also created, they included the sound of G in a small octave.