With Flute and Friends Herb Watson About the Flute Music had an important social function in the era before it could be artificially reproduced. It was very common to invite friends to one’s home with the instruments they played and lay out the music for an impromptu “jam session.” As part of their upbringing, the educated class had lessons from music teachers in the popular instruments of their time. This was especially true in colonies such as Virginia, which, with few large towns and no cities, had homes spread over its great expanse with neighbors mostly miles apart. The transverse flute may be considered a late-bloomer in the eighteenth century when compared with its cousin the recorder, known then as the English or common flute, or simply flute. The English flute’s popularity took off in the seventeenth century, thoroughly leaving the transverse flute as a has-been, second choice among flutes. However, in the late seventeenth century, some enterprising French instrument makers took the transverse flute and thoroughly improved it; they championed the new transverse flute as being capable of much greater expressive control than the end-blown flute. During the 1720s, the transverse-type flute began to appear in other European countries besides France, including England, from which it soon made its way to the American colonies. A great number of pieces by Michel de la Barre, Jacques Hotteterre, Anne Danican, and Pierre Philidor had already been published in France for the traversière, but suddenly sonatas and other pieces by Handel and Loeillet appeared in print in London. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, many composers left the door open to the performer regarding choice of instrumentation, whether violin or flute, for solo, trio, and quartet sonatas. By mid-century, these parts generally designated one instrument over another, with the title page specifying the presence of a flute part. With its new popularity, the flute became comfortable in ensemble situations because of its ability to blend with other instruments, particularly in chamber music. There were also forays into “popular” music of the time to show the flute’s many moods. About this Recording Among composers represented on this recording are these native-born Englishmen: John Stanley (1712-1786), Op. 2, Solo V, 1745; John Frederick Ranish (1693-1777), Op. 2, Sonata IX, 1744; Edward Miller (1735-1807), Sonata IV, ca. 1761. All were published in London. These composers closely associated with London but were not English-born: Carl Freidrich Abel, born in Cothen in 1723, but residing in London from shortly after the 1758-1759 season, dying there in 1787; and John Christian Bach, born in Leipzig, 1735, dying in London 1782. Together with Abel, they gave successful concerts there for many years. Their music on this recording was published in London. As for continental European composers, the Frenchman Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755) is represented by three works: a duet for flute and violin, Op. 51, number six, Paris, 1734; a Trio for Three Flutes without Bass, Op. 7, No. 5, Paris, 1725; and a Trio Sonata for Two Flutes and Continuo Bass, Op. 12, No. 1, Paris, 1726. For this recording, to round out the survey, we have included music that was the most common but about which the least is known for scarcity of primary sources. “Folk” music was enjoyed by the middle and lower classes and was usually accompanied by dancing. This music was rarely written down, for the players of it generally could neither read nor write musical notation. However, a few educated musicians foresaw that it would be forever lost if they didn’t preserve what they could by creating manuscripts. For the folk and popular music we have drawn upon the Scotsman James Oswald (1711-1769) and his large collection entitled The Caledonian Pocket Companion, 12 volumes, London, 1745–ca. 1770 (“Oh Onochie O” and “Norea’s Scots Measure”); another melody included is “Daphne” from a Dutch publication of 1648–1649 by Jacob Van Eyck, with harmony added by Herb Watson to make a three-part arrangement. Finally there are two tunes, “Parson’s Farewell” and “The New Bourree or The Indian Queen,” from Playford’s The English Dancing Master (1651) and The Dancing Master, 9th Edition (1695). Flutes are all pitched at a = 415 cps. • Thomas Stanesby, Jr., London, ca. 1735–1755: two copies of this flute by Robert Turner, Charlottesville, VA. Flute in d’. • G.A. Rottenburgh, Brussels, ca. 1745: copy by Robert Turner, Charlottesville, VA. Flute in d’. • C.A. Grenser, Sr., Dresden, c. 1760, using a = 415 cps section: copy by Thomas Prescott, Melrose, MA. Flute in d’. • J.C. Denner, Nuremberg, ca. 1700: copy by Thomas Prescott, Melrose, MA. Tenor recorder in C.