Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/42

Story of the Flute

included in the royal band from the reign of Henry VII. down to that of Charles 11. One, named Nicholas Staggins, of bibulous tendencies—in 1695 he owed £120 for beer—accompanied King William to Holland. John Banister, leader of the Drury Lane band till 1720, was a famous performer. In 1695 the Royal Academy in Charles Street, Covent Garden, advertised in The Athenian Gazette that they gave lessons on the recorder. A typical fop of the period is depicted in a full-trimmed blue suit, with scarlet stockings rolled above his knees, a large white peruke, and playing on a recorder nearly an ell long. The instrument was frequently included in the scores of Handel and Bach, the last great composers to use it. It began to die out in France about 1750, but was played at a concert so late as 1800.^[1] In the end it was ousted by the new transverse or "German" flute (the recorder being then known as the "common" flute). It is now replaced by the more perfect clarinet, which also The
Flageolet
and other
early Pipes dealt a death-blow to the flageolet, a whistle-pipe with a receptacle for holding a sponge, introduced by Sieur Juvigny in 1581. John Hudgebut, in the preface to his Vade-mecum for the lovers of Musick (1679), contrasts the two instruments thus:—"Though the Flagilet like Esau hath got the start, as being of a more Antient standing, The Rechorder like Jacob hath got the Birth-right, being much more in Esteem and Veneration with

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1. "Le Repos" in Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ was originally scored for flutes-douces.