The flûte d'amour ( it, flauto d'amore, german: Liebesflöte, translates as: Love Flute) is an uncommon member of the
Western concert flute
The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in Ameri ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
, pitched in A, A, or B and is intermediate in size between the modern C
concert flute
The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in Ame ...
and the
alto flute
The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...
in G. It is sometimes thought of as the mezzo-soprano member of the flute family. It is also sometimes called a tenor flute.
It is longer than the concert flute and plays either a major second, minor third, or major third below the standard C flute. A number of these instruments have survived. Apart from their length, they do not differ in any way from the concert flute; the bore diameter and embouchure are identical.
"When
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
composed the opera ''
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...
'' for performance in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
in 1871, he conceived the 'Sacred Egyptian Dance,' the finale of Act I, as being played by a group of three ''flûtes ď amour'', and three such flutes were especially constructed in Milan. ... In present-day performances of this opera, the music for the ''flûtes ďamour'' is usually assigned to other instruments."
Flute d' amour repertoire
References
Further reading
* Montagu, Jeremy,
Howard Mayer Brown Howard Mayer Brown (April 13, 1930 – February 20, 1993) was an American musicologist.
Brown obtained his BA from Harvard in 1951 and his Ph.D. in 1959, studying under Walter Piston and Otto Gombosi among others. He conducted and performed o ...
, Jaap Frank, and Ardal Powell. 2001. "Flute, II: The Western Transverse Flute, 3. Other Members of the Family, (iii) Flûte d’amour". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
and
John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
Side-blown flutes
{{Flute-stub