Today will be my second day in my class.  To prepare, I’ve gathered some information online I found about Renaissance flute measurements. I’ll also take along my Tardino tenor Renaissance flute, to practice making and converting measurements.  Since it is my first instrument, we’re not being too picky or historical about things, we’ve decided to make a ¾ size instrument, which we are going to call a descant.   Further, from what I can find online, there is only one extant descant (in Brussels), and some makers doubt its authenticity.

In my searches for measurements, I re-discovered Philippe Allain-Dupré’s great website for Renaissance flutes:
http://allaindu.club.fr/fluterenaissance/index.html

Allain-Dupré is a French maker and performer, and I am extremely grateful for all of the information he puts online.  I’m sure I’ll be visiting his site many times.

I would also recommend these sites for information about Renaissance flutes:
http://www.berneyflutes.com/ (a great FAQ page)
http://www.oldflutes.com/renai.htm (good for general information)

***

So!  I returned from a rather easy class.  All I had to do today was measure my Tardino tenor flute, and reduce everything by 1/4.  This ended up being more practical than using measurements already made, plus it gave me experience measuring.

The one question that still perplexes me:  Why, if I reduce every measurement by 1/4, must I NOT reduce the bore and diameter of the flute also?  Paul tells me that it would end up being a much higher pitch, and something about the fundamentals of the notes…but this starts becoming scientific, and it seems my brain turns off easily at the thought of anything related to physics or acoustics.  Maybe I never really understood it well when I was younger.  Maybe these things will be more clear to me as I work.  Maybe I just need to do a little Google research…

Share

Renaissance flute (copy) - boxwood

Renaissance flute (copy) - maple

Tenor Renaissance flutes

Maker: Giovanni Tardino (Rome, Italy)

My flutes:  One boxwood, A=440; one maple, A=440

These tenor Renaissance flutes are Giovanni Tardino’s masterful copies of originals from the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona.  They are consort instruments, and I’ve played them in a varitey of flute-consort and mixed-consort ensembles.  I’ve also used them for solo repertoire, and pieces with lute accompaniment.  I’ve always thought that Renaissance flutes have a gorgeous, poingnant, somewhat breathy and wooden, earthy sound.  Their color range is huge – sometimes they sound like voices, sometimes like cornetti, sometimes like flutes.

The Renaissance flute consort is most typically a 4-part consort, but there are pieces for 2, 3, and 5 or more instruments as well -  almost any polyphonic chanson will do!  There is also a pretty good amount of music that perhaps wasn’t intended for any particular instrument or combination which works beautifully on these flutes as well.   In the traditional 4-part consort, you most often have a bass flute taking the bottom voice, while the top three voices are given to three tenor instruments.  Apparently a discant flute was sometimes used as well, but the range of the tenor flute is quite large and can accommodate most of the cantus parts written, and has the added benefit of not being too bright (screechy).

Though the tenor flute is obviously most easy to hear (and indeed really shines) in the the higher registers, it has a hauntingly beautiful lower register as well.  If the flute is played in a consort setting, the lower altus- and tenor- voice players need to employ a very direct sound to cut through.  The solo Renaissance flute can show off its range and colors best in diminutions by composers such as Ortiz, Rognoni, and Van Eyck.

I started playing the Renaissance flute during my third year of conservatory, partly because a lute-player friend had begged me to learn so we could play together.  I played mostly in a 3-part flute consort at the beginning, but have since played in all sorts of ensembles.  Renaissance music, particularly when played on these flutes, continues to catch me by surprise in its beauty and creativity.

For some reason, my boxwood flute is very flexible – and not only in sound!   The instrument is somehow very sensitive to humidity, and each day it is a slightly different shape.  Sometimes it is perfectly straight, and sometimes it bends a little, like it did for its photo.  My colleagues call it “the banana flute”.  I bought the maple flute this year because I found that I tend to play the boxwood flute at A=438, and I really needed one in 440 for ensemble work.  Two flutes are better than one!

Renaissance

IH Rottenburgh

A Grenser 415

A Grenser 430

H Grenser

Tassi

Share