Jacques-Martin Hotteterre

Airs et Brunettes - Les plus convenables à la Flûte Traversière seule, ornez d'Agréments

Joana Amorim

Label: Fineline
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917242928

Catalog number: FL 72429
Releasedate: 07-02-25

- World première recording.
- Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1673-1763), musician at the court of Louis XIV, was one of the first great French flutists.
- He composed several works for his instrument of choice, the transverse flute
- Around 1721 Hotteterre published in Paris the collection entitled Airs et brunettes
- At the end of the book, there are twenty-one pieces for solo flute, with ornamentations.
- They are very delicate pieces, undoubtedly intended for pedagogical practice or simply for personal delight.

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1673-1763), musician at the court of Louis XIV, was one of the first great French flutists. He composed several works for his instrument of choice, the transverse flute, also writing several important methods. From the flutes he built, one is preserved today at the Steiermärkischen Landesmuseum in Graz, Austria. For this recording, a copy of this same instrument was used, made by the builder Giardino Tardino. Around 1721 Hotteterre published in Paris the collection entitled Airs et brunettes. The name “brunettes” indicated “petites airs tendres”, or short and simple arias, of a more popular nature and often with a pastoral ambience. At the end of the book, there are twenty-one pieces for solo flute, with ornamentations — "agréments" or "doubles" — complex and refined, often with a free and fluid, almost improvised character.They are very delicate pieces, undoubtedly intended for pedagogical practice or simply for personal delight. That was precisely what attracted me most to these works and motivated this recording. During the 2020-21 pandemic these small works were a balm for my soul.