Other English terms, now virtually obsolete, are fluter (15th–19th centuries) and flutenist (17th and 18th centuries). Flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun, after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy ( flautista, itself from flauto), like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quotation cited by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist or flautist or simply a flute player. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this was in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Hous of Fame, c.1380. The first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare (to blow, inflate) have been pronounced 'phonologically impossible' or 'inadmissable'. The English verb flout has the same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. The word flute first entered the English language during the Middle English period, as floute, or else flowte, flo(y)te, possibly from Old French flaute and from Old Provençal flaüt, or else from Old French fleüte, flaüte, flahute via Middle High German floite or Dutch fluit. The transverse flute had spread into Europe by way of Germany, and was known as the German flute. Transverse flutes entered Europe through Byzantium and were depicted in Greek art about 800 AD. The end-blown flute began to be seen in illustration in the 11th century.

Īlthough there had been flutes in Europe in prehistoric times, in more recent millennia the flute was absent from the continent until its arrival from Asia, by way of 'North Africa, Hungary, and Bohemia', according to historian Alexander Buchner. In India, the cross flute appeared in reliefs from the 1st century AD at Sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd–4th centuries AD. The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri, was sacred to Krishna, and he is depicted in Hindu art with the instrument. He said that religious artwork depicting 'celestial music' instruments was linked to music with an 'aristocratic character'. The cross flute (Sanskrit: vāṃśī) was 'the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India', according to Curt Sachs. Of these, the chi is the oldest documented cross flute or transverse flute, and was made from bamboo. The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute, often of bamboo) in the 12th–11th centuries BC, followed by the chi (or ch'ih) in the 9th century BC and the yüeh in the 8th century BC. Flutes have been discovered in historical records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty. Historians have found the bamboo flute has a long history as well, especially in China and India. The Americas also had an ancient flute culture, with instruments found in Caral, Peru, dating back 5000 years and in Labrador dating back approximately 7500 years. In China, a playable bone flute was discovered, dated approximately 9000 years old.

While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia, too, has a long history with the instrument that has continued into the present day. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. A number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist.įlutes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments, as paleolithic examples with hand-bored holes have been found. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. they make sound by vibrating a column of air. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, i.e. The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group.

Get sound siphon free