The term “flute” encompasses instruments from different cultures. In general, flutes have holes and may or may not have keys. The tubes are hollow and can be made of bone, wood, metal, galalite, plastic, tin, or other material. The sound of the instrument is produced by the player blowing into a bevel – in the case of the recorder and other similar instruments – or laterally on the edge of the hole – as in the case of the transverse flute. This current agitates the air column inside the tube, producing the sounds. Each note corresponds to a certain length of air column, controlled by closing or not closing the holes. The oldest flute ever discovered was found in Germany and was made from swan bone; This instrument belongs to the Paleolithic period and is around 36,000 years old. The flutes closest to the flute used in current Western orchestras date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. In the 16th century, flutes appear in pictorial and literary sources throughout western Europe, demonstrating the great popularity of the instrument during the period. Until the 17th century, flutes only had holes, which made it impossible to reproduce a wide range of notes and made tuning very difficult. To overcome these obstacles, the instrumentalist used flutes of different sizes and, therefore, capable of playing different notes. The subsequent use of keys allowed the instrument to increase its range, improve intonation and access the entire chromatic scale. In the 19th century, Theobald Boehm, builder, goldsmith and flutist, made improvements to the instrument that made his flute the most used by instrumentalists in the world. Boehm redesigned the instrument and created ring-shaped keys; each ring surrounded one hole and also operated a second hole, which allowed one finger to cover two or more holes simultaneously. All these modifications made the flute sound stronger and more uniform, improved intonation and made chromatic notes more accessible. After many experiments, Boehm reached his definitive model in 1847; this flute, with minor modifications, remains the standard model.

This transverse flute belonged to the renowned Brazilian artist Pixinguinha. Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho, his given name, grew up with music around him. Influenced by his father, an amateur flutist, who held musical meetings at home, he learned to play the flute, cavaquinho and mandolin. Between 1919 and 1921, he performed throughout Brazil with his group Oito Batutas, achieving enormous success, which later extended outside the country, when they won over audiences in Paris and Buenos Aires. He is the composer of the famous choro Carinhoso, which received lyrics by Braguinha, also known as João de Barro. In the 1940s, he switched from flute to sax. In the same decade, he recorded 34 phonograms (17 albums) in partnership with flautist Benedito Lacerda, which included choros such as “Um a zero”, “Sofres por queres” and “NQuero tempo”. In 1947, the program O personal da Velha Guarda, created by Almirante, premiered on Rádio Tupi. The 1950s were marked by his participation in festivals and radio programs and by some recordings and album releases. Throughout the 1960s, he received many honors. Pixinguinha died at the age of 75, victim of a massive heart attack, in 1973, at the Church of Nossa Senhora da Paz, during the baptism of a friend’s son, leaving a valuable legacy for Brazilian music.

To find out even more, visit Pixinguinha’s website on the IMS domain: https://ims.com.br/titler-colecao/pixinguinha/

BERKLEY, 2009.
BETHENCOURT; BORDAS; CANO; CARVAJAL; SOUZA; DIAS; LUENGO; PALACIUS; PIQUER, ROCHA, RODRIGUEZ; RUBIALES; RUIZ, 2012
BRANDÃO, 2013
Consultoria de Franklin Corrêa da Silva Neto (2014)
DOURADO, 2004
MIMO, 2014
SADIE, 1994
SITE INSTITUTO MOREIRA SALLES - IMS, 2023
SITE ORCHESTRA HARMONIE, 2023

The builder Giuseppe Barlassina (1866-1936) liked to associate his surname with that of famous flutists at the time he manufactured his flutes, in order to name them. For this reason, there are copies with the following brands: “Barlassina & Billoro” (in the case of the IMS instrument), “Barlassina & Casoli”, “Barlassina & Galloni”, “Barlassina & Saetti”, as well as others with the “Barlassina” brand ”, without the accompaniment of a musician’s name.

Manufacturer serial number: 2424