At 9:22 AM -0400 5/15/07, Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
My question is: why didn't the
bass flute become a part of the standard music ensemble, given the
popular nature of oboes (along with their variant sizes including the
bassoon).
OK, brief music history lesson. First thing to understand is that
both flute families--transverse and recorder--sound at 4' pitch.
That is, an octave above the voice part they are named for. During
the 16th and early 17th centuries both families grew to include SATB
sizes (additional sizes for the recorder family), all sounding
(because they function as open pipes) at 4' pitch.
The late 17th century was a period of consolidation rather than
expansion in instrument families, and also a period of redesign for
woodwind instruments. It was the renaissance tenor flute that became
the baroque soprano flute (and the renaissance soprano, by
Beethoven's time, that became the piccolo), but with a redesigned
bore, the ability to make tuning adjustments, and the addition of a
single key that was NOT just for the note Eb but served as well to
open up the third octave. In the recorder family it was the alto (or
treble) that became the preferred solo and ensemble instrument, in
the oboe family the treble shawm (lowest note middle C), and in the
bassoon family the bass instrument.
The 19th century was again a time of expansion in instrument families
and redesign of many instruments, woodwind, brass and stringed. The
single sizes of woodwinds favored in the late 18th century (including
the clarinets by then) once again grew into families of different
sizes, while newly invented instruments (like the saxophone and
saxhorn) were conceived as families from the very beginning.
Andrew wrote:
The reason no bass flute was developed any earlier was because a
flute of that size, built straight, exceeds the player's reach.
Makers began experimenting with various bent forms in the early
twentieth c., but it was only with the development of today's type
(with recurved head joint) that the instrument became really
practical.
This is exactly correct for the renaissance flutes. Both my bass
renaissance flutes take a very long stretch to reach the lowest
holes, and the more authentic of the two (without any keys) is
painful on the right wrist. In the renaissance, unlike today, you
did not play a large instrument unless you were a large person!
Andrew also wrote, very correctly:
First of all, there's some terminological confusion here. The term
"bass flute" up to the 1970s was widely used to mean the alto flute.
This was especially true in England, and seems to be the case with
the Baroque recordings you mention. There was no such thing as a real
bass flute until about 1910. Bach wrote for alto flute in a couple
of his cantatas, but notably he just called it "flute" and left it
to the player to use an appropriate size for the range notated.
... although I believe there are examples that make that last
sentence incorrect.
I would have guessed composers in the baroque would love the rich
sounds of the bass flute. This is completely my personal opinion, but
I'd prefer the bass flute over the bassoon's more nasal sound. My
hunch is there was some intonation issues with the flute family that
prevented a general adoption by composers. If anyone has more
knowledge about this, I'd love to hear about it.
There were definitely intonation issues with simple system transverse
flutes, as there were with all renaissance and baroque woodwinds, but
professional players then as now knew how to deal with them. (And
HAD to know, since the abomination known as equal temperament was
definitely not in use!) But the real answer to this is simply one of
balance and range. The baroque bassoon had projection and played in
the bass range; the baroque bass flute, if any were ever built (and
which would have been properly an alto flute rather than a bass by
that time) had much less projection, and did not play in the bass
range.
Personal memory: Back in the late '60s my quartet, The Four Saints,
recorded some demos at a studio in Miami, using low recorders
(greatbass in C and, I think, contrabass in F) for a special sound.
Later, as guests on the Arthur Godfrey radio show, we wanted to sing
that particular song. What many people don't know and didn't know
even then was that Godfrey was a great music fan, and surrounded
himself with the finest in the business for his studio band. Sy
Coleman was his keyboardist! When we came in for rehearsal I asked
the two woodwind doublers whether they could by any chance get hold
of an alto and a bass flute. One of the said, "Yeah, we used them a
couple of weeks ago. I think they're over under the piano." And
they were!! And the next day I had parts ready for them!
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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