Three instruments have been recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose, King Henry VIII's vice-flagship, which sank in July of 1545. The ship has remained for the most part buried in mud, until excavation started in 1969, preserving wood and fabric in unusually good condition. These instruments were described by Frances Palmer as follows in the January, 1983 issue of the journal Early Music:
"A pipe made of fruit-wood was recovered from the main deck of the Mary Rose.
close to a cabin which is known to have been occupied by an archer, a carpenter
and one other man who has not yet been identified. It was found in association
with equipment belonging to the Queen's Company of Archers.
The pipe is made from a single piece of wood and is of a simple cylindrical
form, without any decoration apart from an incised line which marks the lower
edge of the beak mouthpiece. The block is missing. As one would expect from the
documentary sources, the bore is very narrow in proportion to its length: the
sounding length is some 41.6cm, while the diameter of the bore is approximately
1.2cm at the foot. The instrument may have been distorted, as the bore at the
foot shows an irregular, oval section. The three holes are placed just above the
foot, and the thumb-hole is in the highest position, agreeing with the
illustration in Praetorius. The turned ring is present and the foot does not
expand at all. A rather blurred mark is branded into the front of the pipe
between the ring and the foot. The mark is hard to read but it may be the
rabbit's footprint tentatively associated with Venice."
"Recovered from the storage area in the orlop deck, the lowest part of the
ship. One complete example is made of cherry-wood (illus.). It is much longer
than the first example and the mouthpiece and window have an elongated outline
which harmonizes with the overall silhouette. Again, the pipe is plain except
for an incised line below the mouthpiece and the turned ring at the foot. Its
overall length is some 80cm with a sounding length of 72cm. The bore at the foot
is approximately 2cm in diameter, although it, too, has been distorted into an
irregular oval. The holes are arranged as in the smaller instrument, with the
thumb-hole much higher than the other two. The name 'E. LEGROS' on a scroll is
branded into the front of the instrument just above the foot. When the pipe was
recovered, a cylindrical rod of wood about 38cm long was found inside it. This
is completely unshaped and may be the drumstick. The remains of the case were
found with the pipe; this seems to have been a wooden cylinder made from a
single sheet of wood shaped into a tube and covered with leather. A carrying
strap is attached at one end."
Click here to download a full-size version of this image, scaled in Photoshop, assuming that the instrument is 800 mm long. The image was created at 96 pixels per inch.
Note: Estimated pitch may not be accurate. Seem s possible that these two instruments played an octave apart.
"Recovered from the storage area in the orlop deck, the lowest part of the ship. The third example is also made in the longer form but it is not as well preserved as the other two. The mouthpiece has been crushed as far as the bottom of the window, the lower edge of which can be seen on the surviving section of the pipe. It is made of a dark wood and there are the remains of a silver mount at the foot and another that perhaps passed round the mouthpiece. It is unmarked."
The Syntagma Musicum of Michael Praetorius, Translated by Harold Blumenfield
Two Three-Hole Pipes, as illustrated by Praetorius. The larger of the instruments has a total length of 802 mm, which makes it a close match for the instrument recovered from the Mary Rose. The crook is an interesting addition, which is seen in at least 1 other surviving instrument.
The smaller instrument scales to about 565 mm.
Click here to download a full-size version of this image, scaled in Photoshop, scaling the instrument according to the scale attached to the illustration. The scale was calibrated to the Brunswick Foot. The image was created at 96 pixels per inch.
A Tabor associated with the above 3-hole pipes.
Praetorius says the following regarding the 3-Hole Pipe and Tabor:
"Here should also be mentioned the Schwegel, also called Stamentien-pipe.
It has only two holes on the front bottom and one in back. It is similar in
length to the transverse flute, but is blown like a recorder. The English use it
together with a drum and play it with the left hand. (plate IX) It goes in range
from d' up to d'", e'" and even further. Some are a fifth lower, from g" or
a". It is remarkable that with but three holes this instrument affords the same
extent of range as instruments with six or seven holes.
Then there are also very small recorders about three or four inches long and
with three holes in front and one in back. These similarly afford almost two
octaves, (plate IX). Both the Schwegel and these very small recorders must be
supported at the end by the fifth finger. The Stamentien-pipe is twenty inches
long, its tenor, 26, and bass, 30."
Notes:
These dimensions do not, by the way, match the illustration for the tenor and bass pipes.
Praetorius's measurements are given in the "Brunswick Foot", which translates to 285.35 mm. This would put the Brunswick inch at 23.77.
Praetorius's pitches are, most likely, Renaissance Pitch, or a = 460 (1 semitone sharp from a=440).
This source alone does not provide enough information, other that the illustration of the smallest recorder, which may have 3 holes. A better reproduction of plate IX, along with more research might help shed some light.
20 Brunswick inches, or 475.4 mm. This is too small to be one of the instruments illustrated in Plate IV. No pitch is mentioned for an instrument of this voice.
,
sounding length = 525. Key of d (ren) listed by Praetorius?
LOA 565 mm. This is the smaller of the two instruments illustrated in Plate IV. Key of d (ren) listed by Praetorius?
Praetorius gives a range for a tenor instrument of "d' up to d'", e'" and even further". Converted from Renaissance Pitch, this would work out to a range of eb' up to eb'",f''', and higher. It should be noted that the illustrations in Praetorius's plates are usually accurate in length, but have exaggerated turning details (nescessary to make the engraving make visual sense)--I would assume that the flair of the bell would be more in keeping with what we know of the style from extent renaissance recorders.
Praetorius, in his descriptive text, gives a measure of 26 Brunswick inches, or 618 mm for the tenor. This is too large to be one of the instruments illustrated in Plate IV.--either this is an approximation or error on Praetorius's part (which happens fairly commonly) or it refers to another instrument, not pictured.
Praetorius, in his descriptive text, gives a measure of 30 Brunswick inches, or 713 mm for the bass. This is too small to be one of the instruments illustrated in Plate IV. See comments above.
LOA 565 mm. This is the smaller of the two instruments illustrated in Plate IX.
Praetorius gives a range for a bass instrument starting at g" or a", a fifth below the tenor instrument. (g' up to g''') and higher. Converted from Renaissance Pitch, this would work out to a range of ab' up to ab'",bb''', and higher. It should be noted that the illustrations in Praetorius's plates are usually accurate in length, but have exaggerated turning details (necessary to make the engraving make visual sense)--I assume that the flair of the bell would be more in keeping with what we know of the style from extent renaissance recorders.
The estimated pitch based on length matches Praetorius's pitch of g.
Sounding length of about 390 mm, LOA of about 415, key of g#. modern pitch
Harmonie Universelle, the Books on Instruments, translated by Roger Chapman
"PROPOSITION V
To explain the shape, range, tablature, and the use of the flute with three
holes.
"Although this instrument (figure 46)can be joined with the preceding ones,
because it has only three holes, that is two in front marked with 2 and 3, and
the other behind marked by 1, (unless it is wished to count as first the hole of
the plug A through which it is blown, the second, B, which serves as flue, and
the last of the end C. so as to locate six holes) nevertheless I have wished to
separate it as much by reason of its great range, as of its tablature which I
give here in two ways. that is to say by the ordinary musical notes and by the
marks used by those who do not understand the value and use of the ordinary
notes.
Now it is so easy to understand this tablature that there is no need of
explanation, unless for the instruction of those who have never seen it or who
do not know how to sound the flutes and the flageolet. It is then in their
behalf that I first say that the notes contain the range of a seventeenth, and
that I have changed the clef because one can rise
only a tenth with the first clef of F ut fa, using only five lines. Here
it must be noted that many do not give the first four notes in the range of this
tablature because they do not pass through all the degrees of the octave, for
after the fourth or the four tones ut, re, mi, fa, that form the lowest
four notes of this instrument, four other notes to reach the fifth above cannot
be produced to complete the octave. That is why one can begin this tablature by
the fifth note, which is at the octave with the first and which occurs on G
re sol so that it has only the range of the eleventh, which contains all
that one can ordinarily produce with this flute.
The notes which are preceded by the flat signify the alterations, the accidentals, or the semitones which are made by moderating the wind or by working the fingers by which the holes are stopped more or less so as to sound the pieces in B-flat. Now the note which is on the clef of C sol ut fa and which begins again at the bottom on the first line continues the tones which have begun on the other clef and serves as the root for completing the remainder of the range, as the notes which follow show. As to the other characters, they must be explained so clearly that there will be no need of speaking of them in the discourse on the other flutes that make use of them.
PROPOSITION VI
I say then, in the second place, that the black lines, which fall
perpendicularly upon the three lines of the tablature signify the number of the
holes which must be stopped to make the sounds marked by the notes below. For
example, the first three, which are on the three lines, signify that the first
note is made by stopping the three holes, and by blowing the wind as softly as
can be. The two other lines that follow show that it is necessary to stop the
two holes marked one and two and to keep open the last hole marked by 3 to make
the re, or the second note; the small line which then follows signifies that it
is necessary to close only the first hole to make the mi, or the third note; and
the three zeros or the three circles indicate that all the holes must be left
open to make the fourth note, or the fa. But one cannot continue from the sol to
the octave, so he is forced to pass in one jump to the fifth above, so as to
take the octave of the first note, which has its octave above when one begins
again to stop the holes, and the wind is made more forceful. This must be noted
even more closely, inasmuch as the same thing occurs in many other wind
instruments, like the flageolet and flutes, which rise an octave and sometimes a
fifteenth, and a twenty-second, depending on how one increases the wind; thus
some men are found who perform a range of a twenty-second on the three-holed
flute, on which I have heard the experiments of Jean Price Anglois. Now: it is
certain that one can perform all the parts of music with many three-holed
flutes, as with the others, although these concerts are not customary. That is
why I am giving no example of it."
The tablature given here is valuable in that it shows a three-hole scale in the English style, where the thumb-hole is tuned to produce a semitone, unlike 3-hole pipes of the French tradition (which I assume also existed at this time) where the thumb produces a whole step.
The pipe shown then is in the key of G, tuned 221. (G-2 semi-A-2 semi-B-1 semi-C-) A rough experiment with an old generation 3-hole pipe in d, shows that an additional paper tube gives a total sounding length of about 400 mm, LOA of 425. G# = 390 and 415, respectivly.
Last modified: 03/14/07
