 
|
The Middle Ages
Byzantium
Byzantine findings
show flutists made of
ivory,
painted on pergament and
frescos. Those are the earliest
illustrations of the middle ages.
The flute is still
being held to the left side.
The musicians belonged to
the show business.
Of
eleventh century there
is to be found a picture of a
flute
played on the right side .
It illustrates
a poem.
The Occident
The occidental findings are
of the 12th to 14th century.
The oldest illustration is from
a monastic writing calledt
Hortus deliciarium
from Landsberg, showing a
flute playing siren.
Other pictures are found
in other
hand writings.
As there is only one illustration
of a flute played to the left,
one hast to think, that the
flutes played to the left were
still dominant.
As the early flutes in Europe
were played to the left side and
only asian pictures show those
played to the right, it
seems that flutes were
forgotten in Europe and
came again from Byzantium at
the end of the
second century.
The textes belonging to
those drawings designate the flute as
swegel. THis family of words
is still living on
in the Slovenic word (swégla)
and in the Croatian (zvegla).
Besides the instrument this word
is also used for naming
the shin bone. This affinity
between the words indicates that
in the middle ages flutes were
still made of bones.
This conjecture is underpinned
by lots of foundigs.
Other known
terms for the flute are
fistula, pipa (lat.)
and pfife (Old High German). All
of these names are used
for other highpitched
woodwinds and for that
are very unspecific.
During the 12th century
there are for the first time
forms of the word
flûte
found in the French
(Possibly from the Latin flatus).
This term is adopted
by the neighbouring Languages.
At the start the word
ist standing for both,
recorder and flute.
The linguistic distinction
is made at first in the
13th century.
In the 14th century
the flute in Germany
was played nearly in
the middle of the instrument.
This is to be seen both in
a drawing of the
"Manesse handwriting"
and a contemporary
report about
german flutists.
Last update: 17.02.2010
|
|