Developments of the Late Seventeenth Century (part II)

Also surviving the Interregnum in England was the name “recorder,” even though the new form of the instrument was greeted by some as a newcomer and not as part of a continuing tradition. For instance, John Hudgebut, in his preface to A Vade Mecum (the first tutor for the Baroque-style recorder, published in 1679), says, “though the Flagilet like Esau hath got the start, as being of a more Antient Standing, The Rechorder like Jakob hath got the Birthright.” Soon the name “recorder” begins to disappear, being replaced by flute douce, flute a bec, or simply “flute” — the name it would carry through most of the eighteenth century. Thus, in the few years between the working careers of Matthew Locke (one of the last, it would appear, to use the Renaissance-style flute consort and Purcell, the word “flute” had taken on an entirely new meaning. It is quite certain that for Purcell, “flute” meant recorder; he did not know (or in any case employ) the transverse flute at all.63 In its limited seventeenth-century appearance in England (notably—perhaps exclusively — in James Talbot’s notes on instruments, ca. 1695), the latter is called by its French name flute d’Allemagne, suggesting that it was not quite yet a naturalized citizen.


Concerning the introduction of the new flute and recorder into other countries, we know considerably less, particularly since there is no dedicated seventeenthcentury repertory of the sort we have from England. For Germany, at least, surviving instruments can provide some clues. The recorder seems to have experienced a development in Germany paralleling that in France, as shown by the set, mentioned above, by Kynseker of Nuremberg. These recorders, which predate the adoption of the French designs, are superficially closer in style to Renaissance than Baroque models. However, we should not be misled by their comparatively plain exterior. Besides their obvious jointed construction, they exhibit two other Baroque innovations: contracting bottom bore and separation of sizes by alternating fifths and fourths. (This set has often been said to be in “G and D,” but it seems more likely to have been considered as being in “C and F” at a high version of Chorton—about a' = 477 — at the time.) We should not be too surprised at these innovations having taken place in Germany; it was, after all, a German—Praetorius—who first suggested in print both the building of recorders with jointed construction67 and the “C-and-F” alignment of woodwind families.

It is the next generation of German builders — Johann Christoph Denner and his colleagues Johann Schell, Nikolaus Staub, and Johann Benedikt Gahn - whose instruments first show the direct influence of the new French designs; these were presumably introduced by French oboists in about 1680, as they had been to England a few years earlier. In England, however, the older-style woodwinds had all but died out, except in certain circles; in Germany there was still a thriving tradition of wind music, which survived the incursion of French orchestral winds and their associated practices and continued to coexist with them for a long time. The indigenous tradition is shown, for instance, in the Grundrichtiger Unterricht der musikalischen Kunst (Ulm, 1697) of Daniel Speer, who represents the recorder by a chart for the soprano in c'' (Quartflöte) rather than the f'-alto that had become the standard in French practice. We see these coexisting musical fashions reflected in the recorders of Denner and his circle; not only are there among them a few of “Renaissance” or “transitional” type, but those of the new French pattern are built to high German pitch standards (Chorton) as well as to low French ones. Significantly, no transverse flutes survive from these seventeenth-century makers; the first German ones we know about come from the workshop of Jakob Denner, J. C. Denner’s son.

Of the same generation as J. C. Denner was Richard Haka, who was born in London but spent his working life (from about 1660 until his death) in Amsterdam. An interesting three-piece Baroque flute by Haka has recently come to light; because of its obviously early date and backward-looking outward form,72 the question of possible Dutch leadership (or at least participation) in the development of the Baroque flute has been raised. Pure speculation at this point, this idea deserves further research. Similarly, Italian leadership (or perhaps primacy) in the development of the Baroque recorder has been suggested on the basis of Bismantova’s primacy in illustrating the new design. However, there is no independent corroboration of this notion; the first indigenous Italian recorders of Baroque design that survive date from the next century. Moreover, 1677 (the date of Bismantova’s treatise) is not really all that early in the development of the Baroque recorder as it is now understood, as we have seen.