some opinion, some fact.....

about tone....
Each of us can make a decision about what the tone sounds like to our ears. We have many early recordings of classical players and a few of klezmer flutists. My assessment of recordings that I've listened to is that the weak, feathery, "pretty" tone was not the normal, basic sound to achieve. The strength of the wind alone leads the listener to literally hear the speed in the air stream, the power behind the notes. The tone itself is not diffuse but rather quite focussed. The actual sound of the wood flute, be it the simple system, conical variety or the cylindrical version of the Boehm flute, was an earthy, yet pointed sound. Combing through various treatises such as those of Quantz, Tromlitz, and Boehm prove as interesting looks into prevailing expectation and practice.

about the use of vibrato....
For a fairly broad introduction to the subject of flute vibrato and its use, I recommend going to http://www.standingstones.com/flutevib.html.
Here you will read about the ornament of vibrato, the non-pervasive use, who would advocate the "trembling breath," who leaned towards a finger vibrato. Use of vibrato in klezmer, be it in flute playing or on other instruments, is of current interest to many klezmorim. Listening to many performances of Brandwein, for example, already presents the listener with a selection of "trembled" notes, be it with the breath or with the fingers. This will be an ongoing "discussion" on this page and I welcome contributors.

flutes in use....
Photos show the use of multi-keyed instruments, probably around 8-11 key. These are what we call simple system flutes. You can see the barrel especially, that section that divides the flute from the headjoint, the tuning slide. What we can possibly conjecture is that the full-keyed system, the more advance Boehm system which grew in popularity by around the 1870's was also in use. A careful listening to the negotiations of certain note combinations may serve as an insight into the flutes used by our two named klezmer flutists in recording, S. Kosch and I. Chazin. Flutists of which we only have limited information via the Beregovsky research are I. Triplik from the Slavuta region of the Ukrain, and Z. Gularman from Kiev.

There are many modifications that were made by Germans, Englishman, Viennese makers. Again, judging from what was probably available and what was shown, the probable flute used most often was the so-called Meyer (either H.F.Meyer itself or "Nach Meyer") flute, having 12 keys and somtimes an ivory headjoint. The ivory ones are rarely found today in good playing condition as the ivory heads will usually have a large crack that is more difficult to fix than wood. The various makers of flutes were aiming to develop a flute that would allow for good tonal flexibility, intonation, volume and ease of fingering.
European and American flutists used many different kinds of instruments during the 19th century. Flutists that we have recordings of favored a strident, penetrating tone rather than an open, somewhat more diffuse tone sometimes heard today. The embouchure hole and the embouchure itself would lead the flutist to this type of tone.
It is also quite possible that the Boehm system flute was played for klezmer. The flute was certainly around, was sold by prominent German and Central European makers, and can achieve much of the same penetrating tone but with more ease of fingering difficult combinations and more projection of the low register because of the cylindrical shape rather than the conical bore.
To sort of sum up, the flute began as a hollowed-out wooden tube with holes. One key was added, then 3 more, and so on. It is totally likely that families would have kept older flutes, preferring to play what they knew or owned. And so, looking backward in the development of the flute, it's also possible that a klezmer would own and play more than one flute, more than one pitch and style. Pitch was always a problem since the "A" didn't become established at 440 Hz until the 1930's. One will find flutes pitched at 390 to 460 depending on the area. Therefore it is also possible that, if the flutist was using a 1-4 keyed flute they would have had cors de rechange, longer and shorter middle pieces to try. A particularly useful innovation in the 19th century was the invention of the tuning slide, a brass tube placed inside the headjoint that fit into the body with it's brass sleeve so that you could pull in or out for tuning, and fast tuning adjustment at that. Unfortunately, many of the 8-12 keyed flutes that were popular in Central and Eastern Europe were pitched at A- 435 rather than our current 440.

Rick Wilson's historical flute page at www.oldflutes.com is an excellent place to begin for an overview of the historical development of the 19th century flute.

More as time permits. Please feel free to offer contributions to this topic and those above!
adrianne f8

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