Groupe des instruments anciens de Paris - L'Art de la Flûte - La Flûte à bec du moyen-âge au XVIIIème siècle (2020)

In spite of persistant legends, it would seem that, at least in our western civilization: those instruments classed by acousticians under the heading of ‘flutes’ played no part in the world of music before the Middle Ages. The classical definition of a pipe (or rather a column of air) set in vibration by a current of air which has been forced against the sharp edge of a hale which serves as an embouchure, does not apply among ancient civilizations, except in the case of the Syrinx or Pan pipes. The Greek ‘aulos’ and the Roman ‘tibia’ which Greek and Latin scholars invariably translate with the word ‘flute’ were in fact double-reed instruments-types of oboes and bassoons.