From Swiss Flutes to Consorts: History, Music and Playing Techniques of the Transverse Flute in Switzerland, Germany and France ca. 1470-1640 Nancy Hadden Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Music September 2010 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement i Acknowledgements This project has grown out of my years of personal experience with the Renaissance flute, beginning in 1972, at a time when almost no one played it and few makers were attempting to make historical copies of instruments. In the late 1970s, the Florentine engineer and flute maker Filadelfio Puglisi was one of the first to begin making historical copies of Renaissance flutes based on surviving instruments in the Accademia Filarmonica and Biblioteca Capitolare in Verona. His instruments and knowledge were fundamental influences on my own understanding of the nature and voice of the Renaissance flute, and in the years since I have developed my own performance skills as a specialist on the instrument. I have spent a considerable number of years as a professional musician, teacher, and scholar, gathering materials, exchanging ideas, performing, studying, writing, teaching and lecturing about the history and playing techniques of the Renaissance flute. My decision to embark on a Ph. D. grew out of these discoveries and experiences. Many individuals over past years and during the tenure of this project have generously contributed their time, encouragement, advice, knowledge and research materials towards the writing of this thesis. These include the performers, scholars, instrument makers, musical instrument museum curators, colleagues, friends, and family listed below. Their contributions, suggestions, stimulating discussions and musical ideas have significantly improved my own thinking and the outcomes of my work. I am enormously grateful. I am especially indebted to my supervisor, Prof. Peter Holman, for his patient advice, good judgement, encouragement, and countless suggestions. In all ways he has helped me to improve and expand my research and writing throughout the trials and triumphs of this project. With thanks to: Philippe Allain-Dupré (Paris) Dr. Michaela Freemanova (Prague) Patricia Baugher (Oxford, Ohio) David Freeman (Prague) Boaz Berney (Jaffa and Montreal) Philip Gruar (Cumbria) Anthony Blishen (London) John Hadden (London) Katherine Borst Jones (Columbus, Ohio) Erin Headley (London) Julian Bream (Somerset) Peter van Heyghen (The Hague and Antwerp) Dr. Jeanice Brooks (Southampton) Prof. Peter Holman (Colchester and Leeds) Adrian Brown (Amsterdam) Dr. P. F. Kawazu (Oxford, Ohio) Lucy Carolan (Edinburgh) Andrew Lawrence King (Guernsey) Melinda Fenholt Cogley (Columbus, Ohio) Dr. David Lasocki (Bloomington, Indiana) Liane Ehlich (Basel) Gianni Lazzari (Bologna) Janet and Robert Fenholt (Columbus, Ohio) Alfred Lehmann (Geneva) David Földi (Geneva) Dr. Anthea Lehmann (London) ii Dr. Timothy McGee (Toronto) Filadelfio Puglisi (Florence) Keith McGowan (London) Isabelle Sainte-Marie (Strasbourg) Holly Mentzer (New York, New York) Anne Smith (Basel) Jeremy Montague (Oxford) Barbara Stanley (St. Albans) Ray Nurse (Vancouver) Dr. Gerhard Stradner (Vienna) Paul O’Dette (Rochester, New York) James Tyler (Los Angeles, California) Francesca Poggi (Verona) Martin Wenner (Singen) Ardal Powell (Hudson, New York) Zephyrus Flutes (London) iii Abstract Nancy Hadden From Swiss Flutes to Consorts: History, Music and Playing Techniques of the Transverse Flute in Switzerland, Germany and France ca. 1470-1640 Submitted in September 2010 for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The flute consort was popular for music-making in civilian society from about the second quarter of the sixteenth century, especially in Germany and France where the main sources of music and instruction books were published between about 1520 and 1560. Prior to the development of the consort, the flute was primarily played by Swiss and German soldiers, in a duo with a large drum. Their presence on the battlefield and playing for court entertainments can be documented from around 1470, and it would appear that their presence at court provided the impetus for civilian players to take up the flute and transform it to an instrument for soft chamber music. An introductory chapter deals with the instrument itself, describing its design features, surviving instruments, a short background history of the flute in the years leading up to the fifteenth century, and the names by which the so-called ‘Renaissance flute’ was known. Chapter 2 examines the contexts and activities of the Swiss and German military flautists, their movement into the courts of Europe, and the subsequent development of the flute consort, through a study of Swiss chronicles, court and city documents and payment records, pictures and musical sources. Chapter 3 follows the rise and development of flute consort playing in Germany and France ca. 1520 -1560; I have focused on this period in these two countries, because the main sources of consort music and instruction books were published there. Relevant activities of Swiss flutes and flute consorts in other European centres supplement the discussion. Chapter 4 is devoted to an analysis of historic playing techniques. Important original source materials have been studied and interpreted, including some seventeenth-century treatises which indicate the survival of sixteenth-century playing techniques. Instruction books, along with evidence from surviving instruments, music and other written documents have made it possible to create a comprehensive method for playing the Renaissance flute. iv Contents Abbreviations v List of Illustrations, Tables, and Music Examples vi Preface xi Chapter 1. The Instrument 1 1.1. A Brief Introduction to the Renaissance Flute 2 1.2. The Beginnings of the Consort Principle 12 1.3. Surviving Flutes 17 1.4. Names for the Renaissance Flute 38 Chapter 2. The Swiss Flute, Instrument of Soldiers, ca. 1470-1520 54 2.1. A Short History of the Swiss Military 55 2.2. Instruments and Music of the Swiss Pair 64 2.3. Beyond the Battlefield: The Spread of the Swiss Pair 93 Chapter 3. From Swiss Flutes to Consorts in Germany and France, ca. 1510-1560 114 3.1. The Transverse Flute in Civilian Hands 115 3.2. The Rise of the Flute Consort in Germany 129 3.3. The Flute Consort in France 160 Chapter 4. Playing the Renaissance Flute, ca. 1520-1640 200 4.1. Source Materials for Flute Technique 201 4.2. Music Teaching in the Sixteenth Century 206 4.3. Posture and Holding the Flute 213 4.4. Fingering, Range and Transposition 224 4.5. The Embouchure 252 4.6. Breath and Sound 261 4.7. Tuning of Renaissance Flutes and Finger Holes 278 4.8. Articulation 297 Conclusions 314 Appendices 317 1. Facsimiles of Original Fingering Charts 317 2. An Edition of the Complete Chansons for Flute Consort From the Collections Published by Pierre Attaingnant in 1533 326 Bibliography 389 v Abbreviations AFV Accademia Filarmonica, Verona AM Annales Musicologiques BCV Biblioteca Capitolare, Verona BJbHM Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis BWQ Brass and Woodwind Quarterly Dol Aurelio Virgiliano, Il Dolcimelo (ca. 1600) EM Early Music EpM Philibert Jambe de Fer, Epitome musicale (1556) GMO Grove Music Online, ed. Deane Root (http://www.grovemusic.com). GSJ Galpin Society Journal HM Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle (1636) IMPBS Howard Mayer Brown, Instrumental Music Printed Before 1600 JAMIS Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society JAMS Journal of the American Musicological Society MG Sebastian Virdung, Musica getutscht (1511) MGG Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart MID (1529) Martin Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch (1529) MID (1545) Martin Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch, 2nd edition (1545) ML Music and Letters PÄMw Publikationen älterer praktischer und theoretischer Musikwerk RdM Revue de musicologie RFCN Renaissance Flute Circle Newsletter RISM Répertoire international des sources musicales RMFC Recherches sur la musique Française classique RMI Rivista Musicale Italiana RRMBE Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era RRMR Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance SIFTS Bollettino della Società Italiana del Flauto Traverso Storico SM Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum (1619) Versuch Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin, 1752). vi List of Illustrations Ill. 1.1.1. Three flutes showing external design changes. 4 Ill. 1.1.2. The embouchure hole, showing the precise rim and interior angles. 7 Ill. 1.2.1. ‘Der Kanzler’, flautist, fiddle player and singer, Manesse manuscript, ca. 15 1340, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. Germ. 848, fol. 423v. Ill. 1.2.2. ‘Cantigas de Santa Maria’, Two flautists, ca. 1300, Madrid, Patrimonio 15 Nacional, Escorial Library, j.b.2, miniature 240. Ill. 1.3.1. Bass flutes P7, P8 and P29 showing the raised turnings on the head-joints. 25 Ill. 1.3.2. Copy of the Lissieu flute by Filadelfio Puglisi. 34 Ill. 1.3.3. Diderot, Encyclopedie, fig. 1, ‘Fifre Suisse’, and fig. 8, ‘dessus de flûte 35 traversiere’. lll. 2.1.1. The Battle of Novara, 1513, the pike square, Johannes Stumpf, ‘Chronik’, 58 1548. Ill. 2.1.2. Diebold Schilling, ‘Berner Chronik’, 1484-5, Swiss pair with standard 59 bearer Ill. 2.1.3. Daniel Hopfer, The five members of the Swiss pike square, 1525. 60 Ill. 2.2.1. Sebastian Virdung, MG (1511), Field drums and kettle drums. 64 Ill. 2.2.2. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Three Soldiers, 1558, New York, Frick 65 Collection. Ill. 2.2.3. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Die Freuden der Welt, ca. 1497, Oxford, 69 Ashmolean Museum. Ill. 2.2.4. Workshop of Albrecht Altdorfer, prototype for the Triumphzug for 70 Maximilian I, ca. 1510, Wein, Albertina Katalog 279, Inv. No. 25 254. Ill. 2.2.5. Hans Schäufelein (1483-1539), Swiss pair, Augsburg, 1513, Albrecht- 70 Dürer-Haus-Stiftung, Nürnberg.