The flute is one of the simplest and most beautiful of musical instruments. Its history dates back to ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, who played a three-holed flute and the Greeks who used a six-holed instrument (Galway, 1992, p.5). Through the centuries there have been countless styles and variations based around the first kind of flute which was:

Today, each country has its own type of flute ranging from the Indonesian suling to the Japanese shakuhachi, all slightly different in sound and style from the two instruments mainly used in the West in the modern day - the transverse flute and the vertical flute (these instruments will be referred to by using their modern day terms: flute and recorder).

There is little written proof regarding the construction of the flute and methods of performance until the 16th century, so the main evidence illustrating the history of the instrument is found in pictorial form. The earliest European representations found in Hungary dating from the 11th to 12th century show the flute in a military context. The miniatures in the Manesse Manuscript (dating from the first decade of the 14th century) illustrate flutes alongside the Minnesinger texts. Also from the 14th century, flutes are pictured in the Spanish courts as well as in scenes of everyday life (Sadie, VI, 1980, p.670). By the 16th century the transverse flute was common in all parts of Western Europe and it was in this century that the first written evidence can be found relating to the construction of the flute and its musical use. Solum lists ten treatises written from 1511 to 1646 which all give specific information about how to play the Renaissance flute (Solum, 1992, p.17-19). The four most significant treatises are listed below:

These works are the forerunners of two other important treatises written in the 18th century:

The four earlier treatises give evidence of the different types and sizes of flutes which were commonly used. Virdung (b.1465) mentions a Zwerchpfeiff which was a slender instrument used in the military accompanied by a drum, which can now be more closely identified with the fife (Bate, 1969, p.74). Agricola's flutes (Fig. 1) came in a range of three sizes (although there were four instruments) and each had a range of more than two octaves - the bassus started on the G below (middle) c' and the discantus on a'. The two middle instruments - the altus and tenor - were practically the same length and shared a fingering chart which started on d' (the symbols used to describe notation will be: middle c up to b in the first octave - c'-b', one octave higher - c''-b'' and the four notes above - c'''-g'''). He also refers to a set of Querpfeiffen or Schweitzerpfeiffen (Swiss-pipes) which came in sets to ensure consistent tuning.

In Agricola's treatise there is a reference to the technique of vibrato (Sadie, VI, 1980, p.671) and 'flutter-tonguing', which suggests that the technique of the 16th century performer needed to be accomplished (Munrow, 1976, p.54). The treatise also shows that the method of fork- or cross-fingering was in use (a system well established by the time Mozart (1756-1791) was writing for the flute) which enabled the performer to produce notes outside of the scale of D major, by covering one or a combination of the six finger holes on the body of the flute. This method was far from perfect on the flute, but on other instruments, such as the oboe, this system worked much more effectively - especially with regards to the lower notes making it a more popular instrument than the flute at this time (Baines, 1962, p.243).

When Praetorius (1571-1621) was writing there was a conscious effort made to solve problematic aspects of the flute such as the tuning:

The compass of these instruments was still just over two octaves (including the four 'falset' notes intended for exceptionally skilled players) and the instruments still came in three sizes - the middle instrument serving as both Alto and Tenor. This particular instrument, with its range d'-d''', is the ancestor of the 'D' flute that Mozart (1756-1791) would have been familiar with. In 1636 Mersenne (1588-1648) cites two flutes, one in D and one in G, which he called Flutes d'Allemands (Bate, 1969, p.75). He was interested in developing the flute and left detailed sketches illustrating the mechanics of keys and springs, but this technology was not applied to the flute until fifty years later (Toff, 1979, p.15).

As well as the treatises there are collections of period instruments which date back to the Baroque era, the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Conservatoire royal de musique in Brussels hold the largest collections of woodwind instruments from this period (Bate, 1969, p.76). From the evidence of these illustrations, treatises and period collections it can be seen that the flute took on differing roles: it was used in the Military, by Court entertainers and also by traveling musicians.

Attention began to be focused on developing and improving the current instruments as the popularity of instrumental music increased (Galway, 1990, p.158). The flute had not really progressed from the simple cylindrical tube, six finger holes and small round mouth hole described above (Solum, 1992, p.11). A number of notes on the instrument were naturally out of tune (Munrow, 1976, p.54) and as far back as 1619 there had been attempts to perfect the tuning. These attempts were relatively unsuccessful so the flute, in comparison with other instruments such as the oboe, was slow in its constructional development. This is observed by Michel de la Barre in 1740:

There were several disadvantages which rendered the flute unable to compete on an equal footing with other wind instruments. The main problem in terms of technique (and tuning) was the method of cross fingering (Baines, 1961, p.242). Other difficulties related to the unrefined tone, uneven timbre in the upper registers (Sadie, VI, 1980, p.672) and the fact that the flute's natural sound was soft, so the volume (or lack of it) in large halls was a problem (Donnington, 1973, p.97).

When the Baroque flute emerged it transformed the instruments effectiveness and performance. The cylindrical tube had been divided into three sections and now had a combination of a cylindrical-conical bore. The top section (the head) was cylindrical and measured just under ¾ of an inch, the middle joint contained the six finger holes and tapered from the top of this section to the beginning of the last section measuring roughly ½ inch in diameter. This last section (the foot-joint) continued the taper and modeled the first ever 'closed' key, which opened when pressure was applied to it (Toff, 1979, p.17). This was a monumental step for the flute as this key covered a new seventh hole enabling the performer to play D#/Eb which had previously only been obtainable by cross fingering.

As the flute was now in three sections it was easier to drill the finger holes and control the overall shape of the bore, and the conical shape enabled the finger holes to be bored closer together which was a great convenience (Sadie, 1980, p.672). These finger holes were also made smaller, varying from 6.7-6.9 millimeters, an idea possibly suggested by a similar feature on oboes which distinguished them from shawms (Toff, 1979, p.17). The instrument was inclined to play less sharp and the task of tuning was simplified (the head could be pulled out of the body to lower the pitch), the compass was slightly extended up to g''' although it was thought that the notes above e''' were 'forced notes' and could not have entered 'naturally in any piece' (Toff, 1979, p.18).

There is no record of a specific date for this emergence but by 1670 there was 'evidence of the presence of just such an improved flute in Lully's (1632-1687) orchestra' (Toff, 1979, p.16). Quantz in 1752 does not specify a date either but does give a description:

It is believed that the Hotteterre family, Jaques Hotteterre in particular, was mostly responsible for the development of the flute (Bate, 1969, p.78). Jaques became involved in the French Flute School which emerged in the early years of the 18th century, and his treatise was very important as it was the first known instruction manual with a fingering chart (Please refer to Appendix I). An example of a flute by Hotteterre can be seen below (Fig. 2).

This flute became the standard model up until the four-section flute was developed in the 1720's which attempted to improve the tuning further by splitting the middle joint into two sections, each with three keys. One of Mozart's complaints was that he feared that the flute would be 'tuned too low or too high' (Schenk, 1960, p.229) and the advantage of the four-piece flute was that the pitch of the flute could be raised or lowered by interchanging the upper section of the body. These interchangeable joints were called corps de rechange as each section was a slightly different size enabling the flute to accommodate a number of different pitches within a range of a semitone. In the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg there is a model of one of the earliest known four-piece Baroque flutes made by a French maker, Charles Bizey (Fig. 3).

This model did not have the corps de rechange but the illustration below (Fig. 4) shows a one-keyed flute with five corps de rechange by a man working in Dresden called Carl Agust Grenser (1720-1807). His flutes were exceptionally refined and possessed excellent tonal characteristics (Solum, 1992, p.45).

A skilled craftsman named Scherer developed a flute which had two foot pieces, enabling the tuning to be more precise when changing the length of the middle pieces (Fig. 5).

Sadie claims that Scherer probably made Frederick the Great's (1712-1786) favorite flute (Sadie, 1980, p. 675). Frederick the Great had a great love of the flute and many were produced for him, especially by Quantz who was his flute master. Quantz was responsible for further developing the flute and his work and writings are well documented, his treatise is said to be the 'the most comprehensive reliable and musically sensitive source of information about the 18th century flute and its playing technique' (Sadie, VI, 1980, p.674). Quantz provided scale charts which were divided into three sections: diatonic scales, flat scales and sharp scales (Toff, 1979, p.18). Quantz designed his instruments with a bore of 20 millimeters (wider than most) and they were mechanically different fitted with a second key in order to make the enharmonic distinction between Eb and D#. The key, played by the little finger of the right hand, closed a smaller hole bored next to the Eb hole (Solum, 1992, p.47). Although providing tonal diversity, this second key did not become popular.

The Classical flute evolved out of the Baroque design but both instruments continued to be played throughout the entire 18th and well into the 19th century alongside each other. The model with which Mozart was familiar (the Baroque) had these basic diagnostic features:

There were still problems playing the chromatic scale as notes had an uneven quality (Carse, 1948, p.402). The keys in which the flute performed most effectively were G and D major although key signatures with more than three sharps or flats could not be played as effectively, hence the most frequent keys that Mozart used in his flute music are: C, D, G (Please refer to Appendix I for a Chronology of Mozart's flute works).

In the 1760's flute makers in London developed the four-keyed flute:

and at the same time, steps were being made to extend the range of the instrument down to c'. It is uncertain whether Mozart was aware of these further developments, although he did write low c's in the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major. All 18th century wind instruments were made by hand by skilled craftsmen using simple tools (Carse, 1948, p.400). The materials used were mainly fruit woods, the most popular being boxwood, and for the rich - ivory, porcelain and occasionally cut glass was used. All of these materials affected the tuning and tone quality of the instrument. These improvements to the flute in the 18th century closely resembled the improvements made to other wind instruments of that time and comparing the development of the recorder and oboe with that of the flute, it appears that a parallel transformation occurred. Bate asserts that:

Once the flute had progressed this far it had reached a similar stage in development to the other woodwind instruments. Over time, the flute gradually began to supersede the recorder, Baines attributing this event to the recorder's limited dynamic range. The flute was able to produce a greater wide differentiation between loud and soft than the recorder, which had a 'fixed generator' (as opposed to the flute, where the sound is created by blowing across a small aperture). This put the recorder at a disadvantage as it was unable to keep up with the ever widening dynamic range of other instruments and was not sensitive enough to be able to produce the 'infinite graduations of volume of the violin and oboe virtuosi' (Baines, 1961, p.243).

With the progression of the flute from the one-keyed, cylindrical-conical, four-sectioned instrument which Mozart would have been familiar with, problems hindering the previous instrument were improved. The tuning was refined, the addition of the D# key enabled the performer to play more technically demanding material with greater fluidity and an enhanced dynamic range could be produced. The feature which set the flute apart from the other woodwind instruments (and helped to establish the flute as a separate instrument from the oboe) was the variety of tone colours which could be produced, making it a more desirable instrument for solo works as well as in ensemble and orchestral music.