Baroque flute
Baroque wooden transverse flute.
What it means
The flauto traverso, or baroque flute, is the transverse flute of the Baroque period. It is made of wood, such as boxwood or ebony, has a bore that is cylindrical in the head and conical in the body, six finger holes, and usually only one key. Its sound is softer, less rich in overtones, and more intimate than that of the modern metal flute.
Musical use
In the 17th and 18th centuries the flauto traverso replaced the recorder in many tasks because it could be graded more strongly in tone. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Frederick the Great valued the instrument; Johann Joachim Quantz wrote a famous treatise on it. Today the flauto traverso is used in historical performance practice, often at the lower pitch of about 415 hertz for a'.
The flauto traverso should be distinguished from the modern flute with Boehm mechanism, which sounds stronger, clearer, and more even in all registers, and from the recorder, which is blown through a fipple. Both share the build of a flute without a reed.
Performance practice
When switching from the modern instrument, get used to the cross-fingering system: semitones arise from cross-fingerings instead of keys. Blow with less pressure, let the notes speak softly, and listen for the differing tone color of the notes, which was used for expression.