Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 24
Scan 24
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
11732, a system which obviated the necessity of transposing the flute parts for flutes other than concert flutes, which until that date had been the practice. However, the use of the flute traversière or German flute had for some years been gradually supplanting that of the flute-à-bec, and Stanesby's endeavours to introduce the new instrument met with scant success.
3About the beginning of the 17th century an important alteration was made in the fingering of the flute-à-bec, or rather a fresh instrument of the kind, with a fingering entirely new, appears to have been invented. This was called by Mersenne the Flageolet; and the same fingering still survives in the French flageolet of the present day, an instrument seldom to be met with, except, perhaps, in a few dance orchestras upon the continent. The French flageolet differs from the ordinary Recorder, in that it has but four finger-holes in front, and two thumb-holes behind. The upper thumb-hole is placed at the back nearest the mouthpiece, then follow two finger-holes upon the top; these are played by the left hand. The fourth finger-hole is placed upon the top, then a thumb-hole at the back, and lastly the sixth finger-hole near the lower end of the flageolet.
5The most celebrated player and maker of flageolets in the time of Mersenne was one Le Vacher. These instruments were made of various sizes, the smaller varieties being used for teaching birds to sing. A more detailed description of the flageolet can be found in the Pleasant Companion for the Flageolet (London 1682), and from this work it seems that both the Recorder and flageolet were in use at the same epoch. According to Dr. Burney the invention of the flageolet is ascribed to the Sieur Juvigny, who played it in the famous "Ballet Comique de la Royne" in 1581. That the instrument achieved great popularity is beyond doubt, for it remained in constant use till the beginning of this century, when Bainbridge constructed double and even triple flageolets, of which specimens are noticed in detail later on in this Catalogue.
7There is yet another instrument of the same family, whose use was once almost universal. The Galoubet, or in German Schwegel or Stamentienpfeiff—called in England simply pipe, and generally employed in conjunction with the tabor—is of great antiquity. It is known to have been in use in the thirteenth century, and a representation of it occurs in a MS. of that date now in the National Library at Madrid
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