ABSTRACT

Johann Joachim Quantz is perhaps best known as the author of a treatise on flute playing and music making in general, the Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen. In chapter 11 of this work Quantz discusses the qualities of a good instrumental or vocal performance. This chapter examines Quantz's indications for inequality as well as for equality in his compilation of flute music known as the Solfeggi pour la flute traversiere avec l'enseignement. It points out the implications of these indications for the study of 18th-century music for other instruments. The excerpts from the Solfeggi collected shed some light on the question of inequality in German flute music. In considering the wider impact of Quantz's Solfeggi, contemporary treatises must be consulted. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's directions are very similar to Quantz's with respect to the hierarchy of the first and third beats versus the second and fourth, and he provides bowing instructions to achieve the proper articulation.