Editing Recorder (musical instrument) (section)

===== "{{Lang|it|Concerti per flautino|italic=no}}" RV 443, 444, 445 =====
[[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]] wrote three concertos for the {{lang|it|flautino}}, possibly for performance by students at the [[Ospedale della Pietà]] in Venice, where he taught and composed in the early eighteenth century. They feature virtuosic solo writing, and along with his concerto RV 441 and trio sonata RV 86 are his most virtuosic recorder works. They each survive a single hastily written manuscript copy, each titled {{Lang|it|Con.to per Flautino}} (Concerto for little flute) with the additional note {{Lang|it|Gl'istrom.ti trasportati alla 4a}} (The instruments transpose by a fourth) in RV 443 and {{Lang|it|Gl'istrom.ti alla 4ta Bassa}} (The instruments lower by a fourth) in RV 445. The three concertos RV 443, 444, and 445 are notated in C major, C major and A minor respectively. Also of note is the occasional use of notes outside the normal two octave compass of the recorder: the range of the solo sections is two octaves from notated F4 to notated F6, however there is a single notated C4 in the first movement of RV 444, a notated E4 in a tutti section in the first movement of RV 443 and low E4 in multiple tutti sections of RV 445.

A number of possible {{Lang|it|flautini}} have been proposed as the instrument intended for the performance of these concertos. The first suggestion was the use of the one keyed piccolo, or another small transverse flute, however such instruments had fallen out of use in Venice by the generally accepted time of composition of these concertos in the 1720s, and this opinion is no longer considered well supported. Another suggestion, first proposed by Peter Thalheimer, is the "French" flageolet (see Flageolets below) in G5, which was notated in D4, appearing a fourth lower, possibly explaining the note in the margins of RV 443 and RV 445 ({{Lang|it|Gl'istromti transportati alla 4a}}) and supported by Bismantova (1677 rev. 1694) and Bonanni (1722) which equate {{Lang|it|flautino}} to the flageolet. However this suggestion has been opposed by the presence of notated F{{sub|4}} and F{{music|#}}{{sub|4}} which are not within the typical compass of the flageolet, although they may be produced through the covering of the bell, sometimes combined with underblowing, as attested by theorists as early as Cardano (c.&nbsp;1546) and as late as Bellay (c.&nbsp;1800).<ref>{{Cite journal|title = 'Flautino' und 'Flasolet' bei Antonio Vivaldi|last = Thalheimer|first = Peter|date = 1998|journal = Tibia|issue = 2|volume = 23|pages = 97–105|trans-title = 'Flautino' and 'Flasolet' in Antonio Vivaldi's works}}</ref>

Two instruments are conventionally accepted today for the performance of these concertos, the sopranino recorder, notated like an alto but sounding an octave higher, and the soprano recorder, following the instruction to transpose the parts down by a fourth. [[Winfried Michel]] was first to argue in favour of the soprano recorder in 1983, when he proposed to take Vivaldi at his word and transpose the string parts down a fourth and play the {{Lang|it|flautino}} part on a soprano recorder in C5 (also "fifth-flute") using the English practice of notating such flutes as transposing instruments using the fingerings of an alto recorder. Michel notes that this transposition allows for the use of the violins' and viola's lowest strings (in sections where they provide the accompaniment without bass) and the lowest two notes of the 'cello. He attributes the presence of notes not in the recorder's normal compass to Vivaldi's haste, noting that these notes do not appear in the solo sections.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Vivaldis Konzerte 'per Flautino' in ihrer wahren Gestalt: Ein letzter Leseversuch|last = Michel|first = Winfried|date = 1998|journal = Tibia|issue = 2|volume = 23|pages = 106–111|trans-title = Vivaldi's concertos 'per flautino' in their true form: A final attempt at a reading}}</ref> He has edited editions of RV 443 and RV 445 for soprano recorder in G major and E minor respectively. [[Federico Maria Sardelli]] concurs with Michel in supposing that the margin note was intended to allow the performance of the concertos on the soprano recorder on a specific occasion, however concludes that they were probably written for the sopranino recorder in F5, noting that small transverse flutes had fallen out of use in Italy by Vivaldi's time, the paucity of flageolets in Italy, the range of the parts, and uses of the {{Lang|it|flautino}} in vocal arias.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1225&context=ppr|title = "Vivaldi's Music for Flute and Recorder" by Federico Sardelli|last = Bowers|first = Jane|date = 2008|journal = Performance Practice Review|doi = 10.5642/perfpr.200813.01.09|issue = 9|volume = 13|pages = 1–8|doi-access = free}}</ref>