one-keyed flute was developed from the keyless, cylindrical-bored Renaissance flute, possibly by 1660. Its beginnings are sketchy at best. Historians have traditionally credited the Hotteterre and Philidor families at the French court of Louis XIV with the “perfection” of the flute. New evidence has challenged that position (Powell, 1996), but we, as yet, have nothing to replace it. Regardless, early one-keyed flutes had three sections: a more-or-less cylindrical head joint, a conical middle joint with six tone holes, and a foot joint with one tone hole covered by a key. Later, probably by about 1720, makers divided the middle section into two parts.
The one-keyed flute, with some modification, was in use for well over one hundred years. Many professional flutists used it as the instrument of preference to near the end of the eighteenth-century. Some amateurs used the one-keyed flute even longer. One could purchase a one-keyed wooden flute in the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue in the United States in 1908 for $1.55.
In the eighteenth century, the flute was the most popular of all wind instruments. It was considered very fashionable, as evidenced by Frederick the Great of Prussia's great passion for the instrument. Composers found a market for flute music among both amateurs and professionals, and consequently the eighteenth century is rich in flute literature.
Names
The one-keyed flute has many names. Eighteenth-century tutors refer to it as the one-keyed flute, the cross or transverse flute (la flûte traversière, die Querflöte, or flauto traverso), and the German flute (flûte d'Allemagne). (Be aware that in the early part of the eighteenth century, the simple term “flute” [flauto] usually referred to the recorder.) Today the instrument is variably referred to as the “one-keyed flute,” the “baroque flute” (certainly appropriate for the early eighteenth-century instrument), or the “traverso,” a shortened version of its Italian name. I shall refer to it as the one-keyed flute.
Materials Used
Historically, one-keyed flutes have been made mostly of wood. Quantz (1752) declared boxwood to be the most common and durable, but he preferred ebony for its clear and beautiful tone. Tromlitz (1791) said both ebony and grenadilla produced a flute tone that was brighter and stronger than boxwood. Kingwood and ivory were also used. However, ivory was used more often to decorate wooden flutes, and many flutes featured ivory ferrules at each joint and an ivory end cap.
Range
The range of the one-keyed flute is d' to a'". However, I recommend that the beginner limit the first efforts to the more traditional range of d' to e'".
traditional range
Concerning the Highest Notes
During the first part of the eighteenth century, the highest practical note was considered to be e'". Hotteterre (1707, pp. 45–46) writes:
The notes above e'" are forced notes, and cannot enter naturally in any piece. Furthermore you must not persist in wanting to find them at the beginning, as it is a trouble which you must spare yourself until you are very advanced.
Quantz (1752, p. 57) agrees, saying, “The highest usable note that you can invariably produce is e'". Those which are higher require a particularly good embouchure.”
The third octave f is a bad note on some instruments. Hotteterre (1707, p. 46) finds that it “can almost never be done on the flute” and omitted it from his fingering chart. The third octave f sharp and g are easier to play.
Despite the difficulties of the third octave, it is not uncommon to find the flute's range extended beyond e'". One notable example is J. S. Bach's Partita in a minor for solo flute where we find an a"' at the end of the first movement.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, notes beyond e'" appear with increasing frequency. Flute construction during this period tended to favor the high register a little more and the third octave spoke with greater ease.
ON THE PARTS OF THE FLUTE
Because there were many instrument makers, and because the one-keyed flute evolved and changed over the course of more than a century, many variations of the one-keyed flute exist. Although some makers added keys, foot registers, and tuning slides, the simpler one-keyed flute described below was the most standard flute in use during the eighteenth century and remained in use well past the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Three-Piece Flute
The earliest one-keyed flute had three parts: a head joint, a middle joint, and a foot joint. Today one such three-piece flute is referred to as the “Hotteterre” flute because it resembles one with distinctive ornamental turnings attributed to the Hotteterre family of instrument makers.
A “Hotteterre” Flute
Four-Piece Flute
By about 1720, makers had divided the middle joint of the flute into two parts, an upper-middle joint and a lower-middle joint. Four-piece flutes are replicated more frequently by today's flute makers than the three-piece instrument described above.
head joint…………upper-middle joint…lower-middle joint…foot joint
The Tenon
The tenon is that part of the flute joint which fits into the socket of the adjacent joint. Tenons are traditionally wrapped in thread (silk, cotton, or linen) that has been rubbed with wax.1 Modern replicas sometimes have cork-covered tenons. Regardless of whether the tenons are wrapped with cork or thread, they must be waxed or greased regularly.
The Cork
The cork at the end of the head joint is movable and its placement is critical for good intonation. First, set the cork somewhere between .75 and 1 inch (20–25 millimeters) from the center of the blow hole. An easy way to measure cork placement is with a wooden dowel rod. Purchase a 12-inch (30 centimeters) length measuring about one-half inch (12.5 millimeters) in diameter (available at craft shops or lumber yards) and simply measure and mark the dowel rod with a pencil about .75 inch (20 millimeters) from one end. The dowel rod, placed inside the head joint, serves the same purpose as the metal rod furnished with today's modern flutes; adjust the head cork so that the pencil mark falls in the center of the embouchure hole.
Next, you must further refine the cork's placement to suit your own way of playing. Each flutist may have a slightly different cork placement, reflecting individual embouchures and ways of blowing. Using the fingerings from the Basic Fingering Chart on page 63, tune d' with d" and d'" If the octaves are true, the cork placement is correct. However, if you find the d's are not in tune, you will need to adjust the cork (and subsequently your pencil mark on the dowel rod). Quantz (1752, p. 33) recommends the following adjustments.
If d' is flat…and d'" is sharp,
correct by drawing the cork away
from the embouchure hole.
