19th century flute by John C. Haynes.

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 11:56 am

Thanks Glauber- you 'retrieved' that information for me in double quick time (or should I say 'Whippet quick'?

)
I've heard of Jan Boland's method book- possibly from flutehistory.com
Looks like I'm on another learning curve!

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:54 pm

As an update from yesterday,I called into a local music shop today with the original leather 'pad' if you can call it that-it's just a wizzened up leather disc!(then again,it may be original-I guess I'd be wizzened up if I get to that age!

)The shop owner was kind enough to give me a 'modern' flute pad of almost identical size.
I did plan to make my own pad from soft leather,and use shellac to fix it to the key,but being keen to give the flute a 'proper try out(and lazy to boot) I've used the 'modern' pad,fixing it to the key with a modern adhesive which can be cleaned off with meths.
I'll eventually give a proper report on how the old girl plays!

I've ordered Jan Boland's method book on-line,so should have that over the next few days.
Also,I picked up a C.D. album(NAXOS 8.555064) of flute sonatas composed by J.J. Quantz,performed by Mary Oleskiewicz on a reproduction of one of Quantz's own self built instruments,made of Blackwood ('Ebony')and Ivory.The flute features two keys- Eb and D#,Quantz's own innovation,which permited enharmonic distinctions throughout the scale,plus a tuning slide.The flute is built to play at A=385 Hz (!)
The music is very enjoyable-I particularly like the 'Tempo di Minuetto' section of the sonata in G minor QV1:116 for flute and Basso Continuo,where you can clearly hear the player 'rolling' in and out of notes.
I found this recording of particular interest,as I have a copy of Quantz's famous essay on the flute on order.
Certainly makes a change from the Jigs and the Reels!

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:53 pm

Cool, you're in for a fun ride. Quantz was a cantakerous nut, but his book is fun to read. He thought he was revolutionizing the flute by adding his second key, and everybody else ignored him. But his chapters on ornamentation are useful.

A=385 is pretty common. These lower pitched flutes sound so nice! It's almost as if the lower the pitch the fuller the sound... The A=415 pitch used in most Baroque instruments today is a convention, chosen because it's exeactly 1 semitone lower than our A=440 tuning, so it's easy to do things like sliding a harpsichord's mechanism to the right if you want it in modern tuning. But anyway, until A=440 was established, the pitch was all over the place, usually lower, sometimes higher too. Most players hated this, of course. Quantz raves against it in his book. Some Baroque flutes were built with 7 different middle parts, to accomodate 7 different pitches. It's common to have at least 2 middle parts (called corps de rechange to play in A=440 or A=415).

Now i can't wait for my Rod Cameron traverso to arrive. I'm hoping to have it in november. Have to sell my Sweetheart (flute) to help pay for it, so you'll see it on eBay sometime soon...

g

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:33 pm

So which model are you getting from Rod?
I forgot to mention that the Quantz repro. flute played on that album that I bought was made by Jean Francois Beaudin.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:56 pm

kevin m. wrote:So which model are you getting from Rod?

Probably a H. Grensel (?) in blackwood, with A=440 and 415. I still have to talk with him about the details.

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 3:30 pm

Grensers are good looking flutes,and versatile-shame that Rod's list doesn't have images.
Lots of repro. makers do Grenser models-I've just been checking them out on Folker and Powell's site.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 3:43 pm

Yes, very dependable 3rd octave, as Rod says, i have no problem at all getting to high A. Other flutes have fuller sound, but i think the H Grenser is a good all-purpose flute. If one day i find myself playing a lot of Baroque, i'll buy Rod's Bressan model too. What a gorgeous sound it has!

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:16 pm

Glauber says that A=385 is common for a baroque flute.I am yet to see a reference to flutes so low .Quanz I believe used 390.A reference to these super low pitches would be fascinating .

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:37 am

Sorry ,Herre QuanTz . I have got the 'T' on my keyboard working now !

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:56 am

I haven't found documentation for A=385. I was probably thinking of A=392 (1 tone bellow A=440). Renaissance flutes were pitched often at A=408, if you consider that the lowest note is D, or A=460 if you consider it to be C. I think the tunings we use today are for convenience sake:
A=415 = 1/2 tone bellow A=440
A=392 = 1 tone bellow
A=360 = 2 tones bellow

But i'm not a specialist in these things, sorry. You probably know the same or more than i do. I just play them things.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 8:38 am

Just to add info on the pitches, this is how Philippe Allain-Dupré summarizes it in the "earlyflute" Yahoo group:

Philippe Allain-Dupré wrote:Most French baroque flutes are pitched at 400, while most English and German baroque flutes are pitched at 410.
When flutes have several corps de rechange, the limits are around 388 to 440.
But there are sometimes mistakes in the interpretation of pitch. For instance the Naust flute in Paris Cité de la musique is recorded at A=367. It seems more plausible that it's a flute in C at French pitch.

HTH...