ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the instrument's transmission to, and cultivation in, Germany via the Saxon court of Dresden. The well-known group portrait traditionally referred to as La Barre and Musicians is one of the best depictions of the style of flute built in France at the turn of the seventeenth century. The earliest information that is believed to link the origins of the Baroque transverse flute to France and the French court is anecdotal and can be traced to La Barre's Memoire of c.1740. During the first decade of the eighteenth century, the importation of French-speaking virtuoso flautists and their instruments to the court of Dresden came not only from France, but also Belgium and the Netherlands. Among the musicians was a growing number of woodwind specialists, including several specifically designated as flautists. Dresden was the cradle and catalyst for the creation of a distinctly German culture of flute playing whose impact lasted to the end of the eighteenth century.
