Abstract
It is widely believed that the recorder declined in use in the late eighteenth century and then lay dormant until the early twentieth century when its revival took place largely under the influence of Arnold Dolmetsch in England. The thesis seeks to explore the history of the recorder between 1800 and 1905, focussing on the organology of the instrument and on the history of the earliest years of its revival. Preliminary chapters review the classification of duct flutes, previous literature and the reasons for the decline of the instrument. An inventory of recorders made between 1800 and 1905 contains details of 140 instruments classified into those whose makers are identified, those of anonymous manufacture, a number made at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and also instruments about which there is uncertainty regarding their location, type, or date. The inventory forms Volume II of the thesis. A commentary discusses aspects of the recorder’s existence in the period, including its various sizes, geographical distribution, and attempted development. The commentary contains controversial material not previously highlighted in the literature and draws attention to the recorders from Berchtesgaden where an unbroken tradition of recorder making has existed from the sixteenth century to the present day. Consideration is given to music for the recorder, its use and appearance in works of art and literature. As a background to the recorder revival, a brief study is made of the origins of the early music movement. The revival of the recorder is examined and it is shown that, far from being confined to England, an interest in the recorder became apparent across northern Europe during the closing years of the nineteenth century. It is demonstrated that the hypothesis that the recorder became extinct in the nineteenth century is no longer valid.