Contextual Associations

The alto recorder is an end-blown duct-flute aerophone of Europe. In 15th and 16th century Europe the alto recorder was most typically played with other recorders of differing sizes (see Renaissance Recorder Consort) by court musicians and musically cultivated amateurs to perform vocal-style polyphonic music. Aristocratic households in Italy and elsewhere in Europe often included recorders in their instrument inventories, although it is not always clear who played them in this context--members of the aristocracy, musicians in their employ, or both. Myers (p. 41) tells us that during this period the recorder also served as a pedagogical tool for musicians learning other, more professionalized woodwind instruments (such as the shawm and the cornett), and that such specialists would be able to double on the instrument when needed. Throughout the 20th century there was an early music revival, and recorders (especially replicas of Baroque period instruments, but eventually also Renaissance ones) were once again in demand. Recorders are played today by amateur enthusiasts, college students in early music ensembles, and a small number of professional performing and recording artists.

Description

Renaissance period recorders were made from single pieces of wood turned on a lathe. The replica instrument pictured here is made in two sections joined by a tenon-and-socket connection located just above the topmost finger hole. The blowing end of the mouthpiece section is nearly entirely stopped with a wood plug (fipple) save for a narrow channel/duct that is left open between it and the inside wall of the body. Once this is completed the craftsman can carve the characteristic "beak" shape of the mouthpiece and chisel a deep cut into its upper side to create the sharp edge against which the airstream is directed. Eight holes are drilled into the tube, one being a thumbhole on the reverse side, the other seven being fingerholes. This recorder has a mostly cylindrical bore that tapers slightly, and then flares near its bell end. 

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The alto (or treble in British terminology) is the third highest pitched member of the recorder consort, tuned in F with a range of F4 to D6. The player blows into the tip of the beak and the airstream is channeled through a duct and directed against a sharp edge chiseled into the side of the instrument. Notes in the second octave are attained through a combination of increased airflow and the opening of the thumbhole. The playing technique involves coordination of finger work (including cross fingerings) and tongued articulations, which can be executed with great speed by accomplished players. The instrument has a narrow dynamic range.

Origins/History/Evolution

The earliest surviving recorder was unearthed in the Netherlands and has been dated to the 15th century. However, that "the largest number of surviving Renaissance recorders belonged to noble families of northern Italy," and that Venice was clearly a site of early recorder treatise publication and of recorder manufacture, has led at least one scholar to credit Italy as the place of origin of this instrument type (Hunt, p. 206). Regardless, there is ample iconographic, published, and compositional evidence to suggest that the instrument and its manufacture and playing had spread throughout Europe and England by early in the 16th century. Sources are not clear as to when the features that identify the Renaissance recorder gave way to those that define the Baroque recorder, but it seems likely to have taken place in the latter half of the 17th century. Of two recorders from this period held by the National Music Museum, one dated to 1670 is of Renaissance design and another to 1680 is of Baroque design (National Music Museum).
 

Bibliographic Citations

Hunt, Edgar. 1984. "Recorder [common flute, English flute]." NGDMI v. 3: 205-215.

Myers, Herbert. 1994. "Recorder," In A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music. ed. Jeffery T. Kite-Powell. New York: Schirmer Books, pp. 41-55.

National Music Museum website, accessed May 1, 2013:

http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Recorders/VanHeerde/4504/VanHeerdeRecorder.html