Editing Recorder (musical instrument) (section)

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Several changes in the construction of recorders took place in the seventeenth century, resulting in the type of instrument generally referred to as ''Baroque'' recorders, as opposed to the earlier ''Renaissance'' recorders. These innovations allowed baroque recorders to possess a tone regarded as "sweeter" than that of the earlier instruments,<ref>Jonathan Wainwright and Peter Holman, ''From Renaissance To Baroque: Change in Instruments and Instrumental Music in the Seventeenth Century'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7546-0403-9}}</ref> at the expense of a reduction in volume, particularly in the lowest notes.

The evolution of the Renaissance recorder into the Baroque instrument is generally attributed to the Hotteterre family, in France. They developed the ideas of a more tapered bore, bringing the finger-holes of the lowermost hand closer together, allowing greater range, and enabling the construction of instruments in several jointed sections. The last innovation allowed more accurate shaping of each section and also offered the player minor tuning adjustments, by slightly pulling out one of the sections to lengthen the instrument.

The French innovations were taken to London by Pierre [[Peter Bressan|Bressan]], a set of whose instruments survive in the [[Grosvenor Museum]], [[Chester]], as do other examples in various American, European and Japanese museums and private collections. Bressan's contemporary, [[Thomas Stanesby]], was born in [[Derbyshire]] but became an instrument maker in London. He and his son (Thomas Stanesby junior) were the other important British-based recorder-makers of the early eighteenth century.

In continental Europe, the [[Johann Christoph Denner|Denner]] family of Nuremberg were the most celebrated makers of this period.

The baroque recorder produces a most brilliant and projecting sound in the second octave, which is more facile and extended than that of earlier recorders, while the lowest notes in its range are relatively weak. Composers such as Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi exploit this property in their concertos for the instrument.

Measured from its lowest to its highest playable note, the baroque alto recorder has a range of at most two octaves and a fifth with many instruments having a smaller range. Even the most developed instruments of the period, however, cannot produce the augmented tonic, third and fourth of the third octave. Notably, [[Georg Philipp Telemann]]'s concerto TWV 51:F1 makes use some of these notes in the third octave, posing significant technical challenges to the player, perhaps requiring the covering of the bell or other unusual techniques.