Flûte d'amour
The flûte d'amour (/ˌfluːt dəˈmʊər/ FLOOT də-MOOR, French: [flyt damuʁ]; Italian: flauto d'amore; German: Liebesflöte; all translating as "love flute"), sometimes called a tenor flute (French: flûte ténor; Italian: flauto tenore; German: Tenorflöte), 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 concert flute and the alto flute in G. It is sometimes thought of as the mezzo-soprano member of the flute family.
Silver flûte d'amour (Radcliff system: alto flute in B-flat) used by John Amadio, made by Rudall Carte & Co. Ltd., London, England in 1923 | |
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| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 421.121.12-71 (side-blown aerophone with tone holes and keys) |
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It is 100–205 mm (4–8 in) longer than the concert flute and plays either a major second, minor third, or major third below the standard C flute. A number of these instruments have survived. Apart from their length, they do not differ in any way from the concert flute; the bore diameter and embouchure are identical.
"When Verdi composed the opera Aida for performance in Cairo in 1871, he conceived the 'Sacred Egyptian Dance,' the finale of Act I, as being played by a group of three flûtes ď amour, and three such flutes were especially constructed in Milan. ... In present-day [1938] performances of this opera, the music for the flûtes ďamour is usually assigned to other instruments."