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==== Other duct flutes ==== Duct flutes remained popular even as the recorder waned in the eighteenth century. As in the instrument's earliest history, questions of the instrument's quiddity are at the forefront of modern debate. The modification and renaming of recorders in the eighteenth century in order to prolong their use, and the uncertainty of the extent of the recorder's use the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have fuelled these debates. Some recent researchers contend that some nineteenth-century duct flutes are actually recorders. This article briefly discusses the duct flutes presented as successors to the recorder: the English flageolet and the [[csakan]], which were popular among amateurs in the second half of the eighteenth century, and the whole of the nineteenth. ===== Flageolets ===== [[File:French and english flageolets.jpg|thumb|French flageolet, left; English flageolet, right. Mid-nineteenth c. Note the seven finger holes and single thumb hole of the English flageolet]] The word ''[[flageolet]]'' has been used since the sixteenth century to refer to small duct flutes, and the instrument is sometimes designated using general terms such as {{Lang|it|flautino}} and {{Lang|it|flauto piccolo}}, complicating identification of its earliest form. It was first described by [[Marin Mersenne|Mersenne]] in {{Lang|fr|Harmonie universelle}} (1636) as having four fingers holes on the front and two thumb holes on the back, with a lowest note C6 and a compass of two octaves. Like the recorder, the upper thumb hole is used as an octaving vent. Flageolets were generally small flutes; however, their lowest note varies.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = The English-Flageolet 1800–1900|last = Macmillan|first = Douglas|date = 2010|journal=[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]|doi = 10.1093/em/caq081|issue = 4|volume = 38|pages = 559–570}}</ref> They were initially popular in France, and it is from there that the flageolet first arrived in England in the seventeenth century, becoming a popular amateur instrument, as the recorder later did. Indeed, when the recorder was introduced to England, it was presented as an easy instrument for those who already played the flageolet, and the earliest English recorder tutors are notated in the flageolet tablature of the time, called "dot-way".<ref name=":21" /> Notably, the diarist and naval administrator [[Samuel Pepys]] (1633–1703) and his wife were both amateur players of the flageolet, and Pepys was later an amateur recorder player. Starting in the early 1800s, a number of innovations were introduced to the flageolet, including the addition of keys to extend its range and allow it to more easily play accidentals. They also included solutions to the problem of condensation: most commonly, a sea sponge was placed inside the wind chamber (the conical chamber above the windway) to soak up moisture. More novel solutions such as the insertion of a thin wooden wedge into the windway, the drilling of little holes in the side of the block to drain condensation, and a complex system for draining condensation through a hollowed-out block were also developed.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Bahn frei! Kreative Blockkonstruktionen im 19. Jahrhundert|last = Tarasov|first = Nikolaj|date = 2005|journal = Windkanal|issue = 5|pages = 14–17|trans-title = Make way! Creative recorder construction in the nineteenth century|issn = 1864-6204}}</ref> Around 1800 in England, the recorder ("English flute", see Name) came to be called an "English flageolet", appropriating the name of the more fashionable instrument. From at least this time to the present, the flageolet in its first form has been called the French flageolet to differentiate it from the so-called English flageolet.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = The French Flageolet: An Introduction|url = http://www.flageolets.com/articles/introduction/french.php|website = www.flageolets.com|access-date = 12 February 2016|language = en-GB|first = Jacob|last = Head}}</ref> From around 1803, when the London instrument maker William Bainbridge obtained a number of patents for improvements to the English flageolet, instruments were often referred as "improved" or "patent" flageolets with little reference to how they actually differed from their predecessors. In this period, the instrument had six finger holes and single thumb hole, and had as many as six keys. Tarasov reports that the English flageolets of the late eighteenth century had six finger holes and no thumb hole, and later regained the thumb hole and seventh finger hole (see above, right).<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal|title = Blockflöten im 19. Jahrhundert: Fiktion oder Wirklichkeit?|last = Tarasov|first = Nikolaj |date=December 2005 – January 2006 |journal=Concerto: Das Magazin für alte Musik |issue=12 |volume=22 |trans-title=Recorders in the nineteenth century: fiction or reality? |pages=28–31 |oclc=11128619}}</ref> The English flageolet never reached the level of popularity that the "French" flageolet enjoyed in the nineteenth century, possibly because the latter instrument was louder. Both remained popular until the beginning of the twentieth century. A significant amount of music was written for the flageolet in the nineteenth century, such as the etudes of Narcisse Bousquet, although much of it was directed at amateurs. English flageolets that may qualify as recorders are of two types: those early instruments, called "English flageolets", which were actually recorders, and nineteenth-century instruments with seven finger holes and a thumb hole. These instruments are not typically regarded as recorders; however, Tarasov has argued for their inclusion in the family. ===== Csakan ===== The csakan (from Hung. {{Lang|hu|csákány}} 'pickaxe'), also known by the recorder's old French name {{Lang|fr|flute douce}}, was a duct flute in the shape of a walking stick or oboe popular in [[Vienna]] from about 1800 to the 1840s. The csakan was played using the fingerings of a recorder in C, and was typically pitched in A{{music|flat}} or G and played as a transposing instrument. The first documented appearance of the csakan was at a concert in [[Budapest]] on 18 February 1807 in a performance by its billed inventor, Anton Heberle ({{floruit}} 1806–16). Tarasov has contested Heberle's status as the inventor of the instrument, and has argued that the csakan grew out of a Hungarian war hammer of the same name, which was converted into a recorder, perhaps for playing military music. Around 1800, it was highly fashionable for make walking sticks with additional functions (e.g., umbrellas, swords, flutes, oboes, clarinets, horns) although the csakan was the most popular of these, and the only one that became a musical instrument in its own right.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Was ist ein Csakan? Von der Waffe zum Musikinstrument|last = Tarasov|first = Nikolaj|date = 2009|journal = Windkanal|issue = 1|trans-title = What is a csakan? From war hammer to musical instrument|issn = 1864-6204|pages = 14–19}}</ref> The earliest instruments were shaped like a walking stick with a mouthpiece in the handle and had no keys, although they could eventually have up to thirteen keys, along with a tuning slide and a device for narrowing the thumb hole. In the 1820s a csakan "in the pleasing shape of an oboe" was introduced in a "simple" form with a single key and a "complex" form with up to twelve keys like those found on contemporaneous flutes. Well-known makers of the csakan included Johann Ziegler and Stephan Koch in Vienna, and Franz Schöllnast in [[Bratislava|Pressburg]]. According to accounts left by Schöllnast, the csakan was primarily an amateur instrument, purchased by those who wanted something simple and inexpensive, however there were also accomplished professionals, such as Viennese court oboist Ernst Krähmer (1795–1837) who toured as far afield as Russia, playing the csakan with acclaimed virtuosity.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Csakan|last = Betz|first = Marianne|publisher = Oxford University Press|work = Grove Music Online|url = http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/06917}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Around 400 works for the csakan were published in the first half of the nineteenth century, mainly for csakan solo, csakan duet or csakan with guitar or piano. The csakan's repertoire has not yet been fully explored. Notable composers for the instrument include Heberle and Krähmer, and Tarasov notes that piano works by Beethoven were arranged for csakan and guitar ([[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] is reported to have owned a walking-stick csakan). Modern recorder makers such as [[Conrad Mollenhauer GmbH|Bernhard Mollenhauer]] and Martin Wenner have made csakan copies.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Csakan|url = http://csakan.de/en|website = csakan.de|access-date = 14 February 2016|last = Mollenhauer|first = Bernhard|archive-date = 10 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160210130857/http://csakan.de/en|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = J. Ziegler, Csakan, A flat|url = http://www.wennerfloeten.de/en/products/blockfloeten/j-ziegler-csakan-a-flat/|website = www.wennerfloeten.de|access-date = 14 February 2016}}</ref> Similarities in fingering and design make the csakan at least a close relative of the recorder. Accounts of Krähmer's playing, which report his "diminishing and swelling the notes, up to an almost unbelievable loudness" imply a developed technique using shading and alternate fingerings, far beyond a purely amateur culture of house music. Additionally, Tarasov reports that some recorders by Baroque makers were modified, around 1800, through the addition of keys, including a [[Johann Christoph Denner|J. C. Denner]] (1655–1707) basset recorder in Budapest and an alto by Nikolaus Staub (1664–1734) with added G{{music|#}} keys, like the D{{music|#}} key on a baroque two-key flute. Another modification is the narrowing of the thumb hole, by way of an ivory plug on the J. C. Denner basset and an alto by Benedikt Gahn (1674–1711), to allow it to serve purely as an octaving vent, as found on many flageolets and csakans. These changes may be archetypal to those found on csakans and flageolets, and constitute an inchoate justification for the continuous development of the Baroque recorder into its nineteenth-century relatives.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Barockblockflöten 2.0: Indizien für die Verwendung von Barockblockflöten um 1800|last = Tarasov|first = Nikolaj|date = 2010|journal = Windkanal|issue = 1|trans-title = Baroque recorders 2.0: indicators of the use of Baroque recorders around 1800|pages = 12–15|issn = 1864-6204}}</ref>
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