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Scan 66
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
20 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1In the whistle, and in the English Flageolet, the scale is simply that of the Flute; indeed, flutes are made from which the usual head can be removed and that of the Flageolet substituted. The French Flageolet is similar in its upper part, but possesses a more complicated scale, and an abundance of auxiliary keys.
3The invention of the Flageolet is ascribed by Burney (Hist. iii. 278 note) to the Sieur Juvigny, who played it in the famous 'Ballet comique de la Royne,' 1581. In the time of Mersennus (1588-1648) the principal teacher and player was Le Vacher (Hawkins, chap. 126). It appears to have superseded the more ancient Recorder, much as the Violin did the Viol. The two were obviously for a time in use together in this country; for the 'Genteel Companion, being exact directions for the Recorder, carefully composed and gathered by Humphrey Salter,' is dated from the 'Lute in St. Paul's churchyard' in 1683, whereas the 'Pleasant companion, or new lessons and instructions for the Flagelet by Thomas Greeting, Gent,' was 'printed for J. Playford, and sold at his shop near the Temple Church' in 1682. The former work gives a plate of a long bulky Recorder, reaching half-way down to the player's knee, whereas the latter represents him sitting over a table on which lies his book, holding in his mouth and hands the 'Flagelet,' a pipe not more than nine inches long; on the table lies one somewhat larger, apparently about twelve inches in length. 'It may be carried in the pocket, and so without any trouble be a companion by land and by water.' In the same way the early Violins were termed piccoli Violini alla Francese in opposition to the more bulky Viol. Both the flageolet and the recorder read from a staff of six lines, each of which represents a hole to be stopped. In the Recorder music the tune, with proper notes and time, is placed on a staff above, whereas in the Flageolet a single symbol above the staff shows the time, but not the intervals of the melody. [See Recorder.] The flageolet has only six holes, stopped by a different arrangement; their closure being appropriated successively to the thumb, first, and second fingers of the left, followed in order by the first finger, thumb, and second fingers of the right hand. This fingering seems to be unique of its kind, and persists in the French Flageolet.
5The Double Flageolet was invented by a person named Bainbridge about 1800, and his Method for the instrument is supplemented after about twenty years by his son-in-law. It consists of two 'patent Flageolets, the sides close to each other; the one has seven holes in front and one behind; the other only four in front. The seven-holed Flageolet is played with the left hand, the four-holed Flageolet is played with the right hand; and in playing duets you will in general have the same number of holes covered on the second Flageolet as on the first.' From the examples it appears that in this case the two instruments play in thirds; intervals larger than this being possible in a few cases. The two tubes are set in a single block and blown by one mouthpiece. Contrivances were added for silencing one of the two pipes when required, but they seem to have been often blown in unison to a single note. Triple flageolets have also been made. These instruments, though still within the memory of some, have entirely and most deservedly gone out of use. No music of importance seems to have been composed for them.
7The single English and French flageolets are still to be met with, chiefly in dance music. The former has been described as a simple form of Flûte-à-bec. The latter is a far more complicated instrument, possessing two holes for the thumbs at the back and four in front for the two first fingers of the two hands. Indeed it is distinctly a descendant of the old Flageolet given above. The half-stopping of the left hand thumb-hole by means of a grooved plate for the thumb-nail, and the introduction of the tip of the right little finger into the small everted bell at the bottom of the instrument, are devices peculiar to this difficult but rather ineffective instrument. Its compass is two octaves and three semitones, from g' to b''' flat. A full Method is published by Bousquet.
9The Flageolet is never found in orchestral scores, but there is a tradition of some authority that the solo part in 'O ruddier than the cherry,' marked in the score as 'Flauto,' was played in Handel's time on the flageolet; and Sullivan introduced it with excellent effect in the part of Dr. Daly in his 'Sorcerer.'
11W. H. S. one of two readings
13FLAGEOLET. The French and Italian term for the harmonic notes in the violin and other instruments of that tribe; doubtless so called because in quality they resemble the flageolet, [Harmonics.] M. C. C. one of two readings
14FLAGEOLET. The French and Italian term for the harmonic notes in the violin and other instruments of that tribe; doubtless so called because in quality they resemble the flageolet, [HARMONICS.] M. C. C. one of two readings
16FLAT. A term employed in the sense of lowering; an artist sings or plays flat when his notes are below the right pitch. B flat is a semitone lower than B, E flat than E, and so on; to 'flatten' (baisser) a sound or an instrument is to make it lower than before, just as to 'sharpen' it is to raise it. The sign used to denote this flattening in music is ♭, called a flat—Fr. bémol; Ital. Bemolle; Germ. Be. It has been already shown under ACCIDENTALS and B (vol. i. pp. 19 and 141) how the signs of the flat (♭) and natural (♮) were derived from two forms of the letter b. A double flat is a descent of two semitones, and is marked by ♭♭. (See also DOUBLE FLAT.)
18In German musical nomenclature the notes are flattened by adding s (or cs) to the letter, as Es, Des, Ges, etc.; A flat is As, and B flat B, though Hes has been used. Double flats are Deses, etc. The ♭ and ♮ in German literature were formerly used to express minor and major, as G♭ for G minor, D♭ for D major, and even one of two readings
19In German musical nomenclature the notes are flattened by adding s (or cs) to the letter, as Es, Des, Ges, etc.; A flat is As, and B flat B, though Hes has been used. Double flats are Deses, etc. The ♭ and ♮ in German literature were formerly used to express minor and major, as G♭ for G minor, D♮ for D major, and even one of two readings
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