On Playing the Flute

Rating:
Summary: Essential for players of any 18th C music, not only flute
Review: Articulation, aesthetics, phrasing, ornamentation, character, tempo, practicing, accompaniment, style, notation, how to give a concert, how to breathe when you're nervous, how to play in an orchestra, ... it's all here. This book from 1752 covers the art of being a musician, not just a flute player.

Quantz' text is for anyone who cares about any music from about 1720 into the time of Mozart and Haydn. And it's essential performance practice material for anyone who would play this music: required reading for any serious student. It gives an indispensable window into German, French, and Italian taste.

Modern flautists, string players, keyboard players, and singers can learn a tremendous amount here. The pages about "good" and "bad" notes and varied articulation/tongueing are worth the whole price of the book. They describe the sound that composers were thinking of, the expressive range, the tremendous variety of effects *within* melodic lines. Take Quantz seriously: he was there, and he was a good player and writer.

What more needs to be said, except to thank the publisher for this edition? The previous issue by Schirmer has been out of print for far too long. This book should NEVER be out of print.

Rating:
Summary: On Playing the Flute by Johann Joachim Quantz
Review: I have not read this book from cover to cover. Although, with it's wonderful index, it has provided me with an excellant resource manual for Baroque music.

Rating:
Summary: On Playing the Flute by Johann Joachim Quantz
Review: I have not read this book from cover to cover. Although, with it's wonderful index, it has provided me with an excellant resource manual for Baroque music.