Instruments of Status: The Flute in Eighteenth-Century Scotland

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The RECSO TORCH network are hosting an event on 'Instruments of Status: the flute in eighteenth-century Scotland', speaker Dr Elizabeth Ford, University of Glasgow

Long associated with war and masculine sexuality, in the eighteenth century the flute was also considered a symbol of wealth and leisure. The transverse flute was the most popular instrument for gentlemen amateur musicians, as a sign of both their wealth and financial ability to indulge such an expensive and cutting-edge habit.

This presentation will explore the flute as a status symbol in eighteenth-century Scotland, exploring flute players, their instruments, their repertoire, and what ultimately what it meant to play flute in Scotland between about 1700 and 1810.

Flutes from the Bate Collection will be available to examine and play.

All welcome, no need to book in advance.

 

Romanticism and Eighteenth-Century Studies Oxford

Contact name: Alice Little

Contact email: alice.little@music.ox.ac.uk

Audience: Open to all