Transverse flute and its features

The transverse flute is a musical instrument made of wood. It refers to wind instruments and belongs to the soprano register. The height of the sound is changed by blowing. Also, during the game, the valves are opened and closed with holes.

general information

The bamboo transverse flute is quite a rare phenomenon today, as modern musical instruments of this type are usually made of metal (platinum, gold, silver, nickel), sometimes also of glass, plastic or other composite materials. The range is over three octaves. Notes for a transverse flute are recorded in a violin key, based on the actual sound. The timbre is clear and clear in the middle register, in the lower one - deaf, in the upper one - somewhat sharp. Flute is available a variety of techniques. Often she performs an orchestral solo. It is used in wind and symphony orchestras. Also used in chamber ensembles. In symphonic orchestras, from 1 to 5 flutes are used. Most of them are from two to three.

Tool history

The transverse flute is known to mankind for a long time. Its earliest image was found on the Etruscan relief. It was created in 100 or 200 years BC. Then the instrument was directed to the left. Only in the illustration to the poem of the 16th century 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 related to that time is contained in the pages of the encyclopedia called Hortus Deliciarum. The researchers suggest that the tool temporarily went out of use in Europe, and then returned there, coming from Asia, through the Byzantine Empire. In the Middle Ages, the design consisted of a single component, sometimes there were two. The tool had a cylindrical shape, as well as six holes of the same diameter.

Renaissance and Baroque

The transverse flute did not change the design too much in the following period. The instrument had a range of 2.5 octaves. He allowed to take the entire list of notes of the chromatic scale with good fingering. The latter was very complicated. The middle register sounded best. Known original instruments of this type are stored in Verona in a museum called Castel Vecchio. It was the era of baroque. The first significant changes in the design of the instrument were made by the Otter family. Her representative Jacques Martin divided the flute into 3 parts. Subsequently, they became 4. The body of the instrument, as a rule, was divided in half. Otter changed the drilling to a conical one. Thus, the intonation between the octaves was 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 Kwantz and Georg Tromlitz. During Mozart's lifetime, the transverse flute with one valve was most often used. By the beginning of the XIX century, the number of these elements began to increase rapidly. Music for this instrument is virtuosic. Additional valves, in turn, facilitated the execution of the most difficult passages.

There were many design options. In France, a 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 and even more. Tools received the names of inventors: Ziegler, Schwedler, Meyer. There were valve systems made specifically to facilitate this or that passage. In the XIX century, flutes of the Viennese type were also created, they included the sound of salt in a small octave.