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The Early Flute Consort The Early Flute Consort is a group of six players of renaissance and baroque flutes. Photo John Healey Such early flutes differ considerably from their modern orchestral Boehm flute counterpart. They are made of wood; renaissance of sycamore, maple or boxwood; baroque of boxwood or ebony. The Early Flute Consort was founded at a Southern Early Music Forum gathering in 1994. Renaissance flutes come in a family or consort of different sizes. The usual one is the tenor, about two feet long. There are smaller alto sizes and larger basses. We believe we are unique in having two great bass renaissance flutes, which are about twice the length of a modern flute. Players need to visit an osteopath after playing these! The photograph above shows (left to right) a bass, four tenors and a great bass. They have no keywork - just a plain cylinder of wood, a blow-hole and six fingerholes. This may seem limiting, but is entirely suited to the music of the period. We play pieces from the late fifteenth century through to the early seventeenth, that is music from the courts of theTudors and Stuarts, Francis I of France, and the Emperor Maximilian. Music includes four-part chansons by Claudin from the publications of the Parisian Pierre Attaignant; pieces by Josquin and his contemporary Netherlanders; madrigals by Verdelot and Lassus; instrumental works by court composers to Henry VIII, and by the man himself. Five and six part music which suits these flutes can be found in the 1572 Mellange de Chansons by LeRoy and Ballarde. Baroque flutes are from the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries i.e. from Lully to Mozart. They are constructed in three or four joints. The top one is cylindrical and carries the blow-hole. The next two of a four joint flute are reverse conical and have three fingerholes each, whilst the foot joint has one hole covered by a closed brass or silver key. They are ideally suited to the concerti and solo sonatas of Handel, Bach and Vivaldi. The flute music of Mozart and the early contemporaries of Beethoven sounds well on them too. The Early Flute Consort uses them not with orchestra or harpsichord continuo, but as close-knit duos, trios, quartets and quintets of equal-sized instruments. Because musical pitch in baroque times was lower than at present, we usually play at A = 392 or 415 Hz which are a tone and semi-tone below modern standard pitch (A = 440 Hz). Music for baroque flute trio includes soulful song arrangements by Hotteterre, sprightly sonatas and suites by the prolific Frenchman Boismortier, tricky ones by Quantz and fun, easy-to-listen-to pieces by James Hook. We have found only one suitable eighteenth century quartet, (by Dittersdorf), whilst there are exactly six quintets all by Boismortier. |
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