The tenor recorder is a member of the
recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
family. It has the same form as a
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
(or descant) recorder and an
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
(or treble) recorder, but it produces a lower sound than either; a still lower sound is produced by the
bass recorder
A bass recorder is a wind instrument in Scientific pitch notation, F3 that belongs to the family of Recorder (musical instrument), recorders.
The bass recorder plays an octave lower than the Alto recorder, alto or treble recorder. In the recor ...
and
great bass recorder
The great bass recorder is a member of the recorder family. With the revival of the recorder by Arnold Dolmetsch, who chose Baroque music and the corresponding recorder types as a fixed point, consideration was given to the design of recorder ...
.
The tenor recorder, like the soprano recorder, is tuned in C, but is pitched an octave lower. Because of its larger size, many tenors have
keys
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
to make it easier to play the lowest C and C, and occasionally D and D.
In
modern notation, the tenor is written at sounding pitch, unlike most of the other recorder sizes, which (except sometimes the alto) are written an octave lower or higher than they sound.
History
In the Baroque there was a notable lack of the tenor recorder in C, which featured in consort music of the Renaissance, and which forms an important part of the modern recorder playing movement. Instead there existed an alto recorder in D, or "
Voiceflute", which was said to be the instrument closest in character to the human voice. In the 18th century, in German-speaking countries, the tenor recorder was named ''Quartflöte'' (fourth flute), after the interval it forms below the ordinary recorder (alto) in F. Confusingly, the same name was used for the soprano recorder in C, apparently because it forms the same interval above the alto in G. At the same time, the English and French equivalents, "fourth flute" and "flute du quatre", meant a recorder a fourth higher than the alto in F—that is, an instrument with B as its lowest note.
Innovations
More recently, the tenor recorder has become the subject of experimentation into modern "harmonic" recorders, so called because of their in-tune harmonics. Nick Tarasov and Joachim Paetzold started experimenting with "harmonic" recorders in the 1930s, with the goal to "strengthen the original characteristics of the recorder and minimize the weakness of standard models". Contemporary models such as the Helder Tenor manufactured by
Mollenhauer and the Ehlert Tenor produced by
Moeck
Moeck Musikinstrumente + Verlag is a leading German manufacturer of recorders and a music publisher.
The company was founded in 1925 by ''Hermann Moeck'' (1896-1982) in Celle. In 1960 his son Hermann Alexander Moeck (1922-2010) took over the bu ...
are harmonic recorders as well. The tenor recorder has also been subject to other variations such as the Breukink-Slide-Recorder, and the moveable-block systems of the Helder Tenor and Strathmann-flute.
Repertoire
Notably, the soprano recorder has the largest work for a solo wind instrument in European history, ''
Der Fluyten Lust-hof'' composed by
Jacob van Eyck
Jacob van Eyck ( , ; 26 March 1657) was a Dutch nobleman and blind musician. He was one of the best-known musicians of the Dutch Golden Age, working as a carillon player and technician, an organist, a recorder virtuoso, and a composer. He was ...
. Much of the repertoire of the Baroque
traverso
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 ...
is commonly adapted onto the tenor recorder. Additionally the tenor recorder has been included in many contemporary ensemble works, such as
Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
: ''Abendkonzert aus Plöner Musiktag'' for SAT ensemble, and the "Music for Recorders" as edited by
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, among other contemporary works.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Alker, Hugo. 1963. "The Tenor Recorder: Its Development, Special Characteristics and Repertoire", with additions and amendments by Edgar Hunt. ''The Consort'' no. 20 (July): 166–73.
* Baines, Anthony C. 1967. ''Woodwind Instruments and Their History'', third edition, with a foreword by Sir
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
. London: Faber and Faber. Reprinted with corrections, 1977. This edition reissued, Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991, and reprinted again in 2012. .
* Bowman, Peter. 1995. "The Birth of a Truly Contemporary Recorder". ''Recorder Magazine'' 15, No. 4 (November): 126–27.
* Griscom, Richard W., and David Lasocki. 2013. ''The Recorder: A Research and Information Guide'', third edition. Routledge Music Bibliographies. Routledge. .
* Praetorius, Michael. 1619a.
Syntagmatis Musici Michaelis Praetorii C. Tomus Secundus De Organographia'. Wolfenbüttel: Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris.
* Praetorius, Michael. 1619b.
Syntagmatis Musici Michaelis Praetorii C. Tomus Tertius'. Wolfenbüttel: Elias Holwein.
* Rose, Pete. 1996. "A New Recorder for New Music". ''American Recorder'' 37, No. 4 (September): 18–20.
* Sachs, Curt. 1913. ''Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet''. Berlin: Julius Bard.
{{Authority control
Baroque instruments
Early musical instruments
Internal fipple flutes
Recorders (musical instruments)