“Once upon a time, when giants still lived on the earth, a man was walking along the riverbank. He was alone. Only the wind played around his shoulders, occasionally rushing through the reeds that grew along the shore. Suddenly, a strange sound was heard, different from any he had heard before. Silence and then sound. Silence… and again. With each gust of wind, a sound could be heard that would stop as the wind weakened. The man approached the reeds to discover what creature was making such a strange noise. He saw nothing, only one hollow and cracked reed sticking out differently from the rest. The wind blew again, the reed trembled, and the sound was heard again. The man’s heart filled with joy, he took the broken reed and blew… Since then, he was never alone again.”
It was a long time ago, very long ago, back in the dawn of human existence, but that bond between the wind, the reeds, and the man continues to this day.
Stjepan Večković, The Wind That Touches the Reed
The oldest flute is
It is also the oldest musical instrument, estimated to be thirty-five thousand years old. It was found in the Hohle Fels cave in Germany and is made of bird bones.
The flute is one of the oldest and most widespread musical instruments in the world. It has been known since prehistoric times and is found in various forms among almost all peoples of the world. The oldest flutes were made of bone or horns, reeds, wood, clay, and other natural materials.
The flute is considered the precursor to all modern wind instruments, which is supported by the origin of its name. The name flute comes from the Latin adjective flatus, which means blowing or wind instrument.
In a broader sense, flutes are instruments related in tonal production, so they include various forms of flutes (which are just simpler versions of this instrument), as well as various whistles and pipes.
Throughout its long development, the flute has appeared in two basic Types: longitudinal and transverse. The longitudinal flute has a hole at the top of the tube and is blown from above, so this type of flute is commonly called a whistle. Unlike the longitudinal flute, the transverse flute has a blow hole on the side, near the top of the instrument, which also determines a different playing position.
Although we mostly imagine the flute as a metal instrument today, it is classified as a woodwind instrument based on its tonal and technical characteristics and tradition. What sets it apart from other wind instruments is the way the sound is produced. The sound is created by blowing into the mouthpiece or through the holes on the flute itself; an air column inside the instrument creates a reed that starts vibrating, producing a soft tone, while the air escaping through the holes of the instrument adds a recognizable noise. By opening and closing certain holes on the body of the instrument, the height or pitch of the air column is changed, producing tones of different pitches.
Mythology and symbolism I am licking.
Old nations generally considered music as a divine gift. In all myths of the East and the West, flutes are attributed with divine origin and supernatural powers.
In one of the most common depictions, the Indian god Krishna appears as a shepherd playing the flute. The sound of his flute stops the flow of rivers, and birds descend to the ground to listen to him. In Hindu tradition, the sound of Krishna’s flute fills the human heart with divine love.
The Chinese legend of Xiao Sheu and Long Yuu mentions the supernatural virtues of the sound of the flute – sheng. Light breezes, colorful clouds, and phoenixes originate from it, leading the mentioned couple to the Islands of Immortals. The sound of the flute is heavenly music, the voice of angels. Taoists also speak of an iron flute that cuts through the roots of clouds and splits stones, which connects it with thunder and rain and makes it a symbol of fertility.
In Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, the instrument has a special place in the dramaturgy and becomes one of the main characters of the story. The flute is made from a thousand-year-old branch. he legend of the Magic Flute is linked to the ancient Slavic deities. According to the legend, the flute was created from the wood of an ancient oak tree on a stormy night while lightning was flashing. The gods bestowed upon it magical powers to protect those who play it from all troubles and to guide those who listen to its sound towards the path of goodness, towards the divine sources.
In the southwestern part of the North American continent, especially among the Hopi, Anasazi, and Zuni cultures, the legend of Kokopelli is encountered. Kokopelli is depicted as a humpbacked man playing a flute, and his images can be found on rocks and cave wall paintings. He is known as a teacher, healer, and a symbol of happiness and joy. By playing the flute, Kokopelli announces the arrival of spring and drives away winter. He converses with the wind and the sky, and his flute can be heard in the spring breeze that brings warmth after a cold winter.
In Islamic tradition, the reed flute is also an important symbol. Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order, addresses God saying, “We are the flute, and music comes from You.” In a quatrain, he says, “Listen to the reed, how it tells its tale.” So much of it! She reveals the hidden secrets of the Sublime; her face is pale, and her inner self is empty. She surrenders her head to the wind and repeats: “God, God, without words and without language.” These dervishes use a reed flute during their ceremony, Sema, which is performed as a dance to music. The flute symbolizes the soul separated from its divine source, longing to return, hence the lamentation.
Rumi tells a story that the Prophet Muhammad revealed secrets to his son-in-law Ali, which he was not allowed to disclose. For forty days, Ali struggled to keep his word, and then, unable to bear it any longer, he went into the desert, leaned his head over the well’s opening, and began to speak… In ecstasy, his saliva fell into the water of the well, and shortly after, a reed grew from it. A shepherd cut it, made holes in it, and began to play the flute. His melodies captivated the listeners and became famous far and wide. The news reached the Prophet, who had the shepherd brought and asked him to play. Everyone present fell into ecstasy. “These melodies,” the Prophet said at the time. “interpretation of the mystery that I secretly entrusted to Ali. Those who lack purity among humans cannot hear the secrets in the melody of the flute, nor can they enjoy them, because complete faith is both pleasure and pain.”
“In Greek mythology, the double flute appears as the attribute of Euterpe, the muse of tragedy. In ancient Greece, flutes were used especially during celebrations in honor of the god Pan, after whom the instrument was named. Another name for Pan’s flute – syrinx (siringa), originated from the myth according to which the nymph Syrinx, wanting to hide from Pan’s amorous pursuit, transformed herself into a bundle of reeds. Pan cut the bundle, created a series of flutes of different lengths, connected them together and made an instrument that played for comfort.”
“Flutes throughout history”
“We encounter mentions of various forms of flutes from the earliest times. Ancient Egyptian discoveries from the third millennium BC confirm the existence of two types of flutes: mem – similar to the flute, and sebi – transverse flutes. Such transverse” Flutes are also mentioned in China in the 9th century BC under the name “di”. Interestingly, the Chinese ideogram for flute also signifies music. In Japan, we encounter the transverse flute “shinobue” and the “shakuhachi”, a well-known traditional bamboo flute that used to be played only in temples, but today we can see it as an instrument of art music. The most widespread Indian flute is called “bansuri”, also known as Krishna’s flute.
One of the oldest forms of the instrument is the “ney”, a Middle Eastern longitudinal flute that is encountered in slight variations from Morocco in the West to Pakistan in the East. The pan flute (syrinx) is found as a musical instrument of ancient Europe, but it is known throughout the entire world, from Oceania and the East to Europe and America, and today it is most famous as a South American instrument. In Romania, one can still hear virtuoso playing on an instrument similar to the pan flute called “naion”. Interestingly, the invention of the first organ (the so-called “hydraulus”) is based on the principles of the pan flute. Wooden flutes, as the organs are still made from pipes of different lengths today.
In our regions, we encounter several types of flute-like instruments. Jedinka, dvojnice, sluškinja, trojka, and četvorka are typical instruments of the Croatian Zagorje region, and their name speaks to the number of pipes that the instrument body contains. Instruments like jedinka and dvojnice in various variants were also present in other parts of Croatia. Jedinka is also called ćurlika (Ravni kotari, Lika, Dalmatia) and čaruminka (Korčula), while vidalice are dvojnice in Istria.
Flute as an artistic instrument
Until the 10th century, Europe only knew the transverse flute, and then, after the Crusades, it adopted the cross flute from Byzantium. This new type of flute quickly spread throughout Europe and became particularly popular in Germanic countries, often referred to as the German flute.
Both types of flutes were played extensively in various occasions, at court, and in cities; professional musicians played them. I am an amateur. Many flute schools from the first half of the 16th century testify to the widespread practice of playing the flute during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. The ideal of that time was to blend the human voice with the sound of the instrument. The flute was predominantly played on the recorder, but also entire families of transverse flutes were built, which had a sound very similar to the recorder: full, dark, warm, and gentle. In instrumental compositions of the 16th century, flutes had a leading role and were made in one piece from ebony, boxwood, ivory, glass, or silver. M. Praetorius began making flutes from multiple parts and added the first cover to the body of the instrument, thus making the technique of playing easier for the musician.
Since the creation of the first operas in the 17th century, composers have sought to use each instrument according to its sonority, linking the sound to the natural image that the instrument best represents. Thus, wooden wind instruments evoke forests, streams, shepherdesses, and their herds, and Klingstor poetically describes the flute as: ” “The flute is a shepherdess with a basket, walking forward in the rhythm of a minuet and playing a carefree sound with its gentle voice.”
“Due to the particular soloistic qualities of this instrument, a large number of virtuosos emerge, and solo and chamber music works primarily intended for the flute are created. The Italian school, followed by G. Ph. Telemann, G. F. Händel, J. S. Bach, and the Mannheim school fully embrace this instrument and develop the flute style.”
“During the Viennese classical period, the flute loses its prominent position among solo and chamber instruments. The sound ideal has changed, and the clarinet has become much closer to it, as the strength of the flute’s sound was not suitable for concert halls, and its scale was still tonally uneven and insufficiently pure.”
“In 1847, the German builder Theobald Böhm succeeded in constructing a flute that met the requirements of that time, with a sonically and intonationally uniform scale from C1 to C4 and an amplified sound. The mechanism of the keys and levers, the so-called.” The mechanism is called a Boehm system and the way the instrument is made has not significantly changed to this day.
Today, flutes come in four forms. Besides the so-called “large flute,” we encounter the alto flute, the bass flute, and the piccolo (which is an octave higher than the regular “large” flute and is the highest instrument in the orchestra). It is the most versatile orchestral instrument as it allows for very fast passages, leaps, trills, staccatos, and legatos.
In recent times, a movement called the revival of early music has emerged in classical music, aiming to perform and transmit musical works in the most authentic way possible, on original instruments, and in the spirit of the time in which they were created, with an emphasis on interpretation in accordance with the stylistic and expressive ideal of a certain period. This has resulted in the preservation of many historical instruments, sparking interest in playing on early flutes from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Ultimately, these are the very flutes that composers of that era were referring to. They were rushing and writing their works for whom they were intended.
1 In our country, it has become a common belief that the frula is a shepherd’s reed instrument, while the flute is a modern artistic instrument.