The flûte d'amour ( , ; ; ; all translating as "love flute"), sometimes called a Mezzo-Soprano flute (; ; ), is an uncommon member of the

Western concert flute The Western concert flute can refer to the common C concert flute or to the family of transverse flute, transverse (side-blown) flutes to which the C flute belongs. Almost all are made of metal or wood, or a combination of the two. A musician w ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, pitched in A, A, or B and is intermediate in size between the modern C concert flute and the

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

in G. 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 composed the opera '' Aida'' for performance in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

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 938performances of this opera, the music for the ''flûtes ďamour'' is usually assigned to other instruments."

Flûte d'amour repertoire

References

Further reading