Flûte d'amour
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The flûte d'amour (Italian: flauto d'amore, German: Liebesflöte, translates as: Love Flute) is an uncommon member of the Western concert flute family, pitched in A♭, A, or B♭[1] and is intermediate in size between the modern C concert flute and the alto flute in G. It is the alto member of the flute family.[2] It is also sometimes called a tenor flute.[3]
It is 100–205mm longer than the concert flute and plays either a major second, minor third, or major third below the standard C flute.[4] A number of these instruments have survived. Apart from their length, they do not differ in any way from the concert flute; the bore diameter and embouchure are identical. Although the flute d'amour has the same tuning as the French three-piece flute, its sound quality is quite different, and in the middle and upper registers the very narrow bore produces a haunting, veiled tone. It is as expressive as the French flute, but its timbre is quite different, being darker, more inning[clarification needed].[5][failed verification]
The flute d'amour is unsuitable for combination with an orchestra for two reasons. First, it is at a different pitch from the other instruments[clarification needed] (though this could, of course, be solved through transposition). The main disadvantage, however, is its mellow, intimate tone quality, which tends to blend rather than contrast with string instruments.[citation needed] Orchestral music demands a level of uniformity and balance between instruments that we take for granted, but which was signally lacking at the beginning of the 18th century.[citation needed] The flute joined forces with the orchestra only after its design and technique had been considerably modified-that is to say, after it had become transformed from a basically low-pitched instrument into the soprano instrument that it has remained.[citation needed] There are nevertheless a dozen or so pieces for flute d'amour and orchestra written in the late 1720s and early 1730s by Telemann, Graupner and Molter (possibly for one particular player).[clarification needed] The striking thing about these compositions is their unity of idiom. They all have a distinctly pastoral air, and in one of them Telemann actually calls the instrument the 'flute pastourelle'. It is significant that the only piece in which Bach combines the flute d'amour with orchestra is the Pastorale from the Christmas Oratorio. (This group of pieces is the only context in which I have encountered the name 'flauto d'amore' in manuscripts of the period; unless we are to conclude that the instrument was seldom played, this must mean its use was so normal that it was only exceptionally specified by name.[6][failed verification]
"When Verdi composed the opera Aida for performance in Cairo in 1871, he conceived the 'Sacred Egyptian Dance,' the finale of Act I, as being played by a group of three flûtes ď amour, and three such flutes were especially constructed in Milan. ... In present-day performances of this opera, the music for the flûtes ďamour is usually assigned to other instruments."[7]
Flute d' amour repertoire[]
Composer | Work |
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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) | Various cantata movements Pastorale from Christmas Oratorio possibly Sonata in B minor. |
Ignaz Jacob Holzbauer (1711–1783) | La Passione di Jesu Christo |
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) | Notturno in E♭ for Flute – Flute d'amore – (A♭) two horns in E♭ – two violas – cello or bassoon. Notturno in E♭ Flute d'amore – Horn in E♭ and Viola. (Trio) |
Joseph Weigl (1766–1846 | Concerto in E♭ for Cor Anglais – Flute d'amore – (A♭) Trumpet in E♭ – Viola d'amore – Glockenspiel – Euphonium – Cembalo – and cello. With echo ensemble: Cor anglais – Flute d'amore – (A♭) Trumpet and cello. |
Fredrich Hartmann Graf (1727–1795) | No title located |
Antonio Messina-Rosaryo | Fantasia Diabolica (bass flute – flute d'amore & flute/piano) |
Giuseppi Richter 18th/19 Century | Quintet for 4 concert flutes and flute d'amore (in A♭) |
Johann Adolf Hasse (1699–1783) | Concerto in F for flute d'amore (B♭) and strings. |
Severio Mercadante (1795–1870) | Trio for Flute – Flute d'amore and cello in F major. Fantasia Concertante for flute – flute d'amore and orchestra |
Stephen Dodgson (b.1924) | O Swallow – flute d'amore (A) and piano |
Missing scores of known flute d'amore compositions |
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Johann Morawetz: Eight nocturnes for flute d'amore, 2 violins, 2 trumpets and cello. |
Johann Neubauer: Two nocturnes for flute, flute d'amore, 2 rns,[clarification needed] 2 violins and cello |
F.G.Reymann: 13 concerti for Flute, Flute d'amore, 2 horns, 2 violas and cello. |
References[]
- ^ "The Flute D'amore by Kate Walsh | Flute Journal".
- ^ "The Flute D'amore by Kate Walsh | Flute Journal".
- ^ Adorjan, Andraŝ. Lexikon der Flöte (2009)[full citation needed], p. 276.
- ^ "Flute". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40569. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ Addington, Christopher (1984). "In Search of the Baroque Flute: The Flute Family 1680–1750". Early Music. 12 (1): 34–47. doi:10.1093/earlyj/12.1.34. ISSN 0306-1078. JSTOR 3127151.
- ^ Addington, Christopher (1984). "In Search of the Baroque Flute: The Flute Family 1680–1750". Early Music. 12 (1): 34–47. doi:10.1093/earlyj/12.1.34. ISSN 0306-1078. JSTOR 3127151.
- ^ Miller, Dayton C. (1938). "Modern Alto, Tenor, and Bass Flutes". Papers Read by Members of the American Musicological Society at the Annual Meeting: 8–15. ISSN 2473-4969. JSTOR 43873115.
- ^ "The Flute D'amore by Kate Walsh | Flute Journal".
- ^ "The Flute D'amore by Kate Walsh | Flute Journal".
Further reading[]
- Montagu, Jeremy, Howard Mayer Brown, Jaap Frank, and Ardal Powell. 2001. "Flute, II: The Western Transverse Flute, 3. Other Members of the Family, (iii) Flûte d’amour". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
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