#000490
On Playing the Flute
Johann Joachim Quantz; translated by Edward R. Reilly
One of the essential documents of Baroque musicianship, from Frederick the Great's court flutist. Johann Joachim Quantz wrote three interrelated essays — on the soloist's training, on accompaniment, and on musical form and taste — and though the frame is the flute, his guidance on phrasing, ornamentation, dynamics, tuning, and tempo applies to every instrument and to singers, which is why it endures as a general portrait of eighteenth-century practice. This is Edward Reilly's standard English translation, with an introduction and notes that bridge the centuries. Read it as a primary source and a practical guide rather than a modern method book: its period assumptions about taste are precisely the point for anyone drawn to historically informed performance. It stands beside C.P.E. Bach's and Leopold Mozart's treatises as a cornerstone of the era.
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The author
Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) was a German flutist, composer and teacher who served at the Prussian court of Frederick the Great, for whom he wrote hundreds of flute works. His long practical experience as performer and composer stands behind every page of his treatise.
The book
On Playing the Flute — originally Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen — comprises three interrelated essays on the solo musician's training, accompaniment, and musical form and style. Though nominally about the flute, its guidance on phrasing, ornamentation, intensity, tuning and tempo applies to all instruments and to singers, which is why it endures as a general document of Baroque practice. This is the standard English translation by Edward R. Reilly, complete with his introduction and notes.
How to read it
Read it as a primary source and a practical guide, not a modern method book. Its eighteenth-century assumptions about taste and style are the whole point for anyone interested in historically informed performance; Reilly's apparatus bridges the gap for present-day readers.
For more context
It pairs naturally with C.P.E. Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments and Leopold Mozart's violin treatise, its great contemporaries.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Johann Joachim Quantz; translated by Edward R. Reilly
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Music
- Location
- Colorado