Contextual Associations

The flageolet is a diminutive duct flute aerophone with a wind cap popular in France during the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries. It is a high-pitched instrument that for a brief period before the development of the piccolo was used in French orchestras. A small number of solo pieces has been composed for the instrument, mostly by French composers, but its primary ensemble setting was in 19^th century quadrille bands playing light music to accompany dancing. The high-pitched, bird-like sound of the instrument was associated with the outdoors and pastorale scenes in operas, and a variety of the instrument was even used to train songbirds to sing. During the 19^th century the instrument was popular amongst amateurs, but in the early 20^th century it fell into disuse in part due to the resurrection of interest in recorders in the 1930s.

Description

This flageolet is made of ivory (the beak) and granadilla wood (the four joints). Detail #1 shows the instrument disassembled (from left: the beak and the windway, barrel, head, and body joints). Although the ivory beak is shaped like a double reed it is not a reed at all. The top two joints are hollow and together serve as a wind cap; and the barrel joint is spacious enough to house a small sponge (missing on this instrument) to absorb any moisture before it reaches the head joint (detail #2 shows the top three non-sounding sections assembled). The duct at the top of the head joint (which is inserted into the barrel joint) that serves to direct the airstream against the sound-producing beveled edge is shown in detail #3. The very short air cavity (only 6.7 inches long) in which the sound-producing standing wave is contained is located in the head and body joints and is a slightly tapering cylinder in shape (the bore diameter at the top end is 15/32” and 13/32” at the bottom end). The head joint has three small holes drilled through its wall, all operated with spring-action keys (detail #4). A total of ten holes are drilled into the body joint; six of these (four in front [detail #5], two in back [detail #6]) are fingerholes and the remaining four are key-covered holes with spring-action keys.

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The player holds the instrument vertically with both hands, left hand on top, and the mouthpiece lightly pressed between the lips (detail #7 shows the fully-assembled instrument in its proper playing position). The thumb and first two fingers of both hands are used to cover the fingerholes on the body joint; the thumbs cover the two holes on the backside, the index and middle fingers the four holes on the frontside. In order to balance the instrument, the performer places their right-hand small finger against the bottom side of the instrument near its bell. The range of the instrument is two full chromatic octaves, from A5 to A7, or possibly more on the top end. Opening the six fingerholes in order produces an a-aeolian scale minus the sixth scale degree (pitch f). Other notes are produced with cross fingering, half-holing, and the four key-covered holes on the body joint (for the pitches a-sharp, c-sharp, d-sharp, and f-sharp). On the head joint, the paired keys on the left are for executing trills and the single key on the right is a speaker key that when opened facilitates playing in the instrument’s high register. In regard to notation, French flageolet parts were sometimes written a twelfth (an octave and a fifth) below their sounding pitch. To avoid using an excessive number of ledger lines, an 8va-higher G-clef can be used.

Origins/History/Evolution

It is difficult to talk about the origins and history of the flageolet because the name has been used to refer generically to a number of different flutes, some types dating back to the late 16^th century or before. The “classical” French flageolet pictured and discussed here is probably from the 19^th century, and versions of it with fewer or no keys were in use in the preceding century or even further back in time. Another variant of flageolet was developed in England in the early 19^th century, which is when the flageolet used in France for centuries started to be referred to as the “French flageolet” to distinguish it from the newly developed and structurally different English instrument. In the early 20^th century it appears all types of flageolets fell into disuse.

Bibliographic Citations

Marcuse, Sibyl. 1964. Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Carse, Adam. 1975 (1965). Musical Wind Instruments. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc.

Galpin, Francis W. 1937. A Textbook of European Musical Instruments. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.

Waterhouse, William, Beryl Kenyon de Pascual, and Douglas MacMillan. 2014. “Flageolet.” GDMI v.2: 312-314.

Head, Jacob. “The Pleasant Companion: The Flageolet Site.” Website accessed 02/27/22:  http://flageolets.com/