Flute Quartet
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A flute ensemble is an instrumental chamber ensemble consisting of members of the flute family.


Flute quartet

In a more traditional sense, a flute quartet consists of a flute and a
string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello ...
(i.e., a violin, viola, and cello). This arrangement flourished in the eighteenth century, particularly through composers such as
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Carl Friedrich Abel Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the pre-Classical period (music), Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viol, viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument ...
, and
Ferdinand Ries Ferdinand Ries (baptised 28 November 1784 – 13 January 1838) was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphony, symphonies, a violin concerto, nine piano concertos (the first ...
, among others. However, as of the twentieth century, a modern flute quartet typically refers to an arrangement of four flautists. The flute quartet does not have any set arrangement, but common configurations include: * Piccolo, Concert Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute * Two Concert Flutes, Alto Flute, Bass Flute * Four Concert Flutes


Notable works


For flute and string trio

*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: ** No. 1 in D major (K. 285) ** No. 2 in G major (K. 285a) ** No. 3 in C major (K. Anh. 171/285b) ** No. 4 in A major (K. 298)


Flute choir

The modern definition of a flute choir is a recent development; likewise, the abundance of literature specifically written for the ensemble has grown alongside the ensemble itself. In the 1960s, flute choirs began to surface within colleges and communities. As there was very little music available for the instrumentation, directors of the individual groups arranged and composed music for the group. Over time, these groups learned of each other. The performers' love of the flute family eventually led to the formation of the National Flute Association. In turn, this led to an increase not only in music written for the flute and flute choir, but also to an increase in flute choirs. As the literature for the ensemble expanded, more flute choirs began to form.What is a Flute Choir
, Flute Frenzy. Accessed March 2012.


Instrumentation

The following instruments, listed by descending range, can be included in a flute choir: *
Piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
(in C, sounding an octave above the concert flute) * Treble flute (in G, sounding a fifth above the concert flute) *
Soprano flute The soprano flute (also called a third flute or tierce flute) is a type of flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is pitched in E, a minor third above the concert flute, and is one of the few members of the modern flute family th ...
(in E, sounding a minor third above the concert flute) * Concert Flute (in C) *
Alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...
(sounding a fourth below the concert flute) *
Bass flute The bass flute is a member of the flute family pitched one octave below the concert flute. The tubing length is twice as long at , which requires a J-shaped head joint to bring the embouchure hole within reach of the player. Despite its name ...
(sounding an octave below the concert flute) *
Contra-alto flute The contra-alto flute is a large member of the flute family, pitched between the bass and the contrabass. It is a transposing instrument either in G (a perfect fourth below the bass and one octave below the alto) or in F (a perfect fifth below t ...
(sounding an octave below the alto flute) *
Contrabass flute The contrabass flute is one of the rarer members of the flute family. Typically seen in flute ensembles, it is sometimes also used in solo and chamber music situations. Its range is similar to the regular concert flute, except it is pitched two ...
(sounding an octave below the bass flute and two octaves below the concert flute) *
Subcontrabass flute The subcontrabass flutes are members of the Western concert flute family. Built in two sizes, the instrument in G or F, also known as the double contra-alto flute, has of tubing, while the larger instrument in C, also known as the double contrab ...
(very rare, often called the contrabass flute in G, sounding two octaves below the alto flute) *
Double contrabass flute Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A 2 ...
(very rare, sounding one octave below the contrabass flute, two below the bass flute and three below the concert flute) The
flûte d'amour The flûte d'amour ( , ; ; ; all translating as "love flute"), sometimes called a Mezzo-Soprano flute (; ; ), is an uncommon member of the Western concert flute family, pitched in A, A, or B and is intermediate in size between the modern C conce ...
in B or A is also occasionally seen in flute choirs. The G treble flute is used predominantly in the modern flute choirs of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The most common instrumentation for a "standard" flute choir can be seen in much of the literature: * Piccolo * 3–4 Concert Flute * Alto Flute * Bass Flute By the mid-2010s, many of the well-established community and professional-level ensembles have acquired at least one contrabass flute. As some groups do not have access to the larger flutes, some alterations are usually provided. Alto flute parts are usually accompanied by a transposed part for the concert flute (usually including certain octave changes because of the extended range of the alto). The sheer cost and limited availability of flutes lower than the bass flute usually prevent most community-based flute choirs from performing these works. However, many flute choirs use the lower voices of the string section ( such as the
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
or
double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
) to cover these lower parts.


Repertoire

While most of the initial music arranged for flute choir included little more than transcriptions of classical pieces for orchestra and chamber ensembles, in recent years many new compositions have been created by such active composers as Ian Clarke, Sophie Lacaze, Phyllis Louke, Catherine McMichael, Ron Korb, and Judy Nishimura, Doina Rotaru, Didier Schein, among others. Although flute choirs are still a relatively new ensemble in the history of music, much of the established repertoire is available at many music stores worldwide, in addition to sites focused solely on the ensemble, such as ALRY Publications and Flute World.


See also

* Flute concerto


References


External links

*
''Arcadie''
by Marc Berthomieu performed by the Quatuor Pelleas flute quartet {{DEFAULTSORT:Flute Choir Chamber music Side-blown flutes Types of musical groups