Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] 83

Flautino (ii).

See under Organ stop.

Flauto (i)

(It.).

See Flute or Recorder. Until about 1735, composers specified flauto traverso or simply traversa (not traverso) when they intended the flute; the word flauto without modification invariably meant recorder (especially the treble), to which the terms flauto a becco, flauto diritto or flauto dolce also apply. Composite terms mentioned in musical sources include: flauto a culisse (Swanee whistle); fiauto d'echo, scored for by J.S. Bach in his fourth Brandenburg Concerto (probably just a treble recorder, possibly an Echo flute); flauto d'amore (either a flute, lowest note a, a minor 3rd below the concert instrument, or occasionally an alto flute in G); flauto di voce (‘voice flute’: a recorder, lowest note d', also a type of Mirliton); flautone (a large recorder; since the 19th century an alto or bass flute); flauto octavo (a small recorder); flauto pastorale (occasionally applied to panpipes); flauto piccolo (either a piccolo, which in Italian is now more usually called ottavino, or else a small recorder or flageolet); flauto taillo (tenor recorder); and flauto terzetto (flute, lowest note f').

DAVID LASOCKI

Flauto (ii)

(It.).

See under Organ stop (Flute). For Flauto a camino see under Chimney flute.

Flauto a camino

(It.).

See under Organ stop (Chimney Flute).

Flauto diritto

(It.).

See Recorder.

Flauto di voce

(It.).

Alto flute in G, with an extra hole covered by a vibrating membrane. It is also known as the ‘patent voice flute’. See Mirliton.

Flauto dolce (It.).

See Recorder.

Flautone

(It.).

An alto flute, pitched in G, a 4th below the concert flute. See Flute, §II, 3(iv).

Flauto pastorale.

Term used by Telemann to denote Panpipes.

Flauto piccolo

(It.).

Piccolo. See Flute, §II, 3(i).

Flauto traverso

(It.).

Transverse flute. See Flute, §II.

Flaviol.

An alternative spelling of flabiol, the Catalonian tabor pipe. See Pipe and tabor, §2.

Flaxland, Gustave-Alexandre

(b Strasbourg, 26 Jan 1821; d Paris, 11 Nov 1895). French music publisher. He first studied piano with J. Leybach in Strasbourg until sent at the age of 15 by his father to Paris to make a living. He worked at various commercial jobs and then left a banking position to enter the Paris Conservatoire. He was already a fine pianist, and gave lessons to pay for his studies. Flaxland was never considered an outstanding pupil of the Conservatoire, although he composed several small piano pieces and songs and developed musical skills which helped him as a music publisher and editor. He married London-born Fanny d’Eresby on 12 January 1847, and shortly afterwards they pooled their savings and bought a small shop at 4 place de la Madeleine, where they sold sheet music. The enterprise flourished and as their resources grew the shop became a musical and social centre in Paris, recognized for its publication of vocal anthologies. Particularly in the 1860s, Flaxland’s was known for the distinguished circle of writers, musicians and wealthy patrons who convened there daily.

Flaxland’s business prospered largely because he acquired the copyrights to the French editions of compositions by Schumann (piano pieces) and Wagner, but the rights to some of Wagner’s operas were controversial. During the winter of 1859–60 Franz Schott (of the Mainz firm of B. Schott’s Söhne) contacted Wagner and bought the German, French and English publishing rights of the full score of Das Rheingold; Wagner hoped to repay his debts to Otto Wesendonck, who had advanced him money for each completed score of the Ring, but as the 10,000 francs he received from Schott were devoted to three Paris concerts, he sought additional funds early in 1860 by selling the French rights of three earlier operas to Flaxland. Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser had been published in Germany by C.F. Meser, and his Dresden successor, Hermann Müller, claimed that Wagner was not entitled to sell the copyrights; Müller also threatened legal action against Flaxland, who avoided it by paying Müller 6000 francs. Wagner eventually (1863) conceded the foreign rights to Müller (not to Flaxland, as suggested by Dubuisson). The third opera, Lohengrin, had been published by Breitkopf & Härtel, who did not object to an independent French edition, but insisted that they also had a right to sell in France. Although Wagner has been accused of cheating Flaxland and failing in Mein Leben to give him due credit for his efforts, it seems that Wagner assumed that a contract with a German publisher applied only to Germany, leaving him free to arrange for publication elsewhere. The correspondence and documents of this period show little basis for the insinuation that he knowingly misled Flaxland; indeed the two appeared to be on the friendliest of terms and Flaxland championed Wagner’s music in Paris even when feeling against Wagner was strong in France.

On 30 December 1869 Flaxland sold his enterprise to Durand Schoenewerk & Cie. He devoted his last years to composition and the manufacture of pianos, and remained an affluent and respected member of musical and literary society until his death. His will attests that he left his family the sum of almost 10,000 francs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEMF

FétisB

HopkinsonD

A. Dubuisson: ‘Wagner et son éditeur parisien: lettres inédites de Wagner et de Minna Wagner’, ReM, iv/11 (1922–3), 149 [53]

E. Newman: The Life of Richard Wagner, iii (New York, 1945/R), 33–45

M. Gregor-Dellin, ed.: Richard Wagner: Mein Leben (Munich, 1963)

C. Hopkinson: Tannhäuser: an Examination of 36 Editions (Tutzing, 1973)

S. Spencer and B. Millington, eds.: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner (New York, 1987), 519, 624, 761–2

THOMASIN LA MAY