Editing Recorder (musical instrument) (section)

=== Middle Ages ===

==== Structure ====
Our present knowledge of the shape and structure of recorders in the Middle Ages is based on the few instruments now preserved, and on artworks, including iconography, from the period.

===== Surviving instruments =====
Recorders surviving from the Middle Ages are heterogeneous. The first instrument discovered is the "Dordrecht recorder". Made of fruitwood, it was excavated in 1940 from a well (not a moat) in the ruin of the ''Huis te Merwede'' ("House on the [[Merwede]]"), near the town of [[Dordrecht]] in the [[Netherlands]]. As the house was inhabited only from 1335 to 1418, and the site was not disturbed until the modern excavation, so the recorder has been dated to the period of occupation. 

The instrument itself presents a cylindrical bore of diameter about {{convert|11|mm|abbr=on}}; and it is about {{convert|300|mm|abbr=on}} long with a vibrating air column of about {{convert|270|mm|abbr=on}}. The block has survived but the labium is damaged, making the instrument unplayable. There are ''tenons'' on both ends of the instrument, suggesting the presence of ''ferrules'' (or ''turnings''), now lost. Uncertainty about details of these fittings has hindered reconstruction of the instrument's original state.

A structurally different instrument (the "Göttingen recorder") was discovered in 1987 in an archaeological excavation of the latrine of a medieval house dated to between 1246 and 1322 in [[Göttingen]], Germany. It is fruitwood of one piece with turnings measuring about {{convert|256|mm|abbr=on}} long. It presents a cylindrical bore growing to {{convert|13.6|mm|abbr=on}} at the second highest measurable point, then progressively narrowing to  the seventh finger hole, before ''flaring'' again to {{convert|14.5|mm|abbr=on}} at the bottom of the instrument, which has a bulbous foot. Unusually, the finger holes taper conically outwards, the opposite of the undercutting found in later Baroque recorders. 

The top of the instrument is damaged; only a cut side of the windway survives and the block has been lost. A reconstruction model by Hans Reiners produces a strident, penetrating sound rich in overtones, and has a range of two octaves. With the thumb hole and the first three finger holes covered, the reconstruction produces a pitch of ca. 450&nbsp;Hz.

More instruments and fragments dated to the medieval period have come to light in the 21st century. These include: a 14th century headjoint fragment excavated in [[Esslingen (district)|Esslingen]], Germany (the "Esslingen fragment"); a birch instrument dated to the second half of the 14th century, unearthed in [[Tartu]], Estonia (the "Tartu recorder"); and the "Elbląg recorder", a fruitwood instrument dated to the 15th century, as found in [[Elbląg]], Poland.

Common features of surviving instruments include: a narrow cylindrical bore (except the Göttingen recorder); a doubled seventh hole for the little finger of the lower hand, (except the Tartu recorder), which feature allows for both right- or left-handed playing; a flat or truncated head instead of the narrow beak found on later instruments; and a seventh hole that produces a semitone instead of a tone. Additionally, the Esslingen fragment has turnings similar to the Göttingen recorder. No complete instrument longer than {{convert|300|mm|abbr=on}} has been uncovered, although the Esslingen fragment may represent a larger recorder.<ref>Nicholas S. Lander, "[http://www.recorderhomepage.net/instruments/a-memento-the-medieval-recorder/ A Memento: The Medieval Recorder]" (Recorder Home Page, 1996–2014). Last accessed 30 June 2014.</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|jstor = 842799|title = Some Recent Archaeo-Organological Finds in Germany|last = Hakelberg|first = Dietrich |date=Mar 1995 |journal=[[The Galpin Society Journal]]|doi = 10.2307/842799|volume = 48|pages = 3–12}}</ref>

The widely-spaced doubled seventh hole was problematic, and persisted into later instruments and later periods—the hole not used was plugged with wax, according to Virdung (1511).<ref name=getutscht>{{IMSLP|cname=''Musica getutscht''|work=Musica getutscht (Virdung, Sebastian)}}</ref> It was during the Baroque period that instruments with adjustable footjoints were developed, rendering the doubled holes obsolete.

Classifying dart flute instruments is further complicated by recorders with seventh holes that produce a semitone instead of a tone. Chromatic fingerings then are difficult, requiring extensive "half-holing". Such instruments share similarities with the six-holed [[flageolet]], which used three fingers on each hand, but with ''no thumb hole''. Anthony Rowland-Jones suggested the recorder's thumb hole was (intended as) an improvement over the flageolet, providing stronger fingering for the note one octave above the tonic, while the seventh finger hole provided a leading tone to the tonic. As a result, he suggests describing these flutes instead as ''improved flageolets'', and proposes that ''true recorders'' should produce a full tone (rather than a semitone) when the seventh finger is lifted.<ref name=":3" />    

Controversies aside, these instruments very likely are, at least, precursors to later instruments that indisputably are duct flute recorders. Consensus is unlikely as there is sparse documentary evidence from the earliest history of the instrument. Historically, there was no need for an all-inclusive definition that encompassed every form of the instrument past and present.

===== Iconography =====
Recorders with a cylindrical profile are  depicted in many medieval paintings; however, their representions appear stylised, and do not easily correspond to surviving instruments. The earliest depiction of the recorder is probably in "The Mocking of Christ", a painting from the monastery church of St George in Staro Nagoričano near [[Kumanovo]], [[North Macedonia|Macedonia]], in which a man is playing a cylindrical recorder. (The painting of the church began in 1315.) And there is the center pan el of the "Virgin and Child", attributed to Pedro (Pere) Serra (c. 1390), as painted for the church of Santa Clara, [[Tortosa]], Spain and now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, [[Barcelona]]—a group of angels gathered around the Virgin Mary, playing musical instruments, one of them playing a cylindrical recorder.<ref name=":7" />

Starting in the Middle Ages, angels have frequently been depicted as playing one or more recorders, often grouped around the Virgin; and, in several notable paintings, ''trios'' of angels play recorders. Such is perhaps a sign of the trinity, although perhaps of the music itself, which also was typically in three parts.<ref name=":7" />

==== Repertoire ====
No music marked for the recorder survives from prior to 1500. Groups, particularly trios, of flutists playing recorders and of ''angels'' playing recorders, are depicted in paintings from the 15th century, indicating the recorder was used in these configurations and with other instruments. Some of the  earliest music must have been vocal repertory. 

Modern recorder players have taken up playing instrumental music, some anachronistically, from the period—such as the monophonic ''estampies'' (prints) from the [[Chansonnier du Roi]] (13th century), the British Library's [[Add MS 29987]] (14th or 15th century), or the [[Codex Faenza]] (15th century). And they have arranged keyboard music of the period for recorder ensembles, including the estampies from the [[Robertsbridge Codex|Robertsbridge codex]] (14th century), or the vocal works of composers [[Guillaume de Machaut]], [[Johannes Ciconia]], and others.