Advanced Search

Alto recorder, F

Alto recorder, F

Alternate name:Treble recorder
Date: 1698-1717 ca.
Place Made:Amsterdam, Netherlands, Europe
Serial No: none
SignedStamped on all joints, initial "A" with subscript "v": [bird?] / AARDENBERG (in scroll) / [3 fleurs-de-lis]
Markingsnone
DescriptionThree sections, stained European boxwood, thumbhole and six fingerholes on the main joint, one fingerhole on the foot joint.

According to Jan Bouterse (Dutch Woodwind Instruments and their Makers, 1660-1760), "of all Dutch baroque recorders, van Aardenberg's are the most distinctive in construction, both in external features such as the turnery and in acoustically relevant aspects such as bore, fingerholes, windway and labium." Of his surviving instruments, there are seven known altos, which "are quite similar in design and construction."
DimensionsOverall length: 505 mm
Sounding length: 440 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1986 from Bernhard von Hünerbein, Cologne, Germany.
Credit Line: Board of Trustees, 1986
Not on view
Published ReferencesJan Bouterse, Dutch Woodwind Instruments and their Makers, 1660-1760 (Utrecht: Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 2005). Includes comprehensive study of extant van Aardenberg instruments, including the NMM's example.
Object number: 03978