Jakob Wragg’s treatise «Improved Flute Preceptor» in the context of the theory of flute performing art of the second half of the 18th century.
Throughout the world work on music of the 18th – 19th centuries is conducted within the framework of historically informed performance – a direction that involves studying the historical and cultural context of the time of writing a work, the specifics of the performing arts of the era, and the use of replicas of historical instruments. This approach was formed in the twentieth century and showed how actual and interesting music of past epochs can be, if ancient musical texts are read adequately. The theoretical basis of historically informed performance is the ancient treatises written in English, French, Italian and German, which complicates their study by domestic musicians, in particular, performers on wind instruments. No treatise has yet been translated into Ukrainian, in Russian are available: «Fontegara » by S. Ganassi (1535), «Principes de la flûte traversière…» by J.-M. Hotteterre (1707), «Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen» by J. J. Quantz (1752), and «Ausführlicher und gründlicher Unterricht die Flöte zu spielen» by J. G. Tromlitz (1791). Although the above-mentioned works are a base for musicians, however, given the difference in the specifics of the national styles of the XVIII century, as well as the dynamics of the development of performing and musical-theoretical thought, these four translations are not enough. Along with the aforementioned treatises there are still about two hundred not-translated methodological works of the XVIII century for transverse flute. Most of them are not as global as, for example, Quantz’s «Versuch...», but with their help we can understand many important nuances of national specificity and musical life of different countries. The objective of this study is to include in the domestic scientific circulation the treatise «Improved Flute Preceptor; or the whole art of playing the German Flute» (W. 284, op. 6, London, 1806) written by the English flutist and teacher Jacob Wragg, which will allow modern wind players to understand the specifics of the flute performing art of this era and to significantly enrich the arsenal of performance means. For the solution of the study tasks were used historical, source-study, performance, textual and analytical methods. In the first part of the treatise, Wragg reviewed the performance features that were inherent to the English flute art of the writing period of this tutor. Particular attention deserves sections devoted to the rules of posture, tempo, articulation syllables, and the performance of ornaments. In the chapter about posture Wragg describes in detail the correct position of the lips, chin, hands and fingers on the instruments body and, most importantly, gives a step-by-step instruction on sound extraction. The exact execution of all instructions of the author brings the modern artist closer to understanding the sound standard of the English flutist in the 18th century. The chapter about note value is dedicated to the interconnection between tempo and musical metre. According to the main rule, the larger number of the denominator in the time signature of the piece (the less the note value is denoted) represented a faster tempo. For the articulation of absolutely all the notes Wragg offers to use only one syllable too, phonemic combination tootle corresponds to double tonguing, and tootle too – triple. The chapter devoted to ornaments makes Wragg’s «Preceptor» an indispensable source for studying the ornamental practices of the classical period. It reviewed the rules of decryption of appoggiaturas, turns, shake, beat, and very rare ornament which is called double shake and combines beat, shake and resolution. Almost every theoretical chapter is illustrated by several “lessons” with gradual complications. This is very effective and convenient solution, in particular for work, which is positioned as a self-taught teacher, since a student can incarnate it into practice after studying the theoretical material. Wragg’s work does not have a chapter which is dedicated to preluding, unlike many other treatises of that time, but judging by the fact that each block of duets in the certain tonality presented in the second part is preceded by a small light prelude, we can conclude that the tradition of preluding, which was widespread in the 17th century, did not disappear and continued its development in England until the end of the 18th century. The second part represents a great value in the technological and artistic regard. It consists of a collection of duets, ariettes, excerpts from the works of prominent composers, and preludes of various levels of complexity, enabling contemporary performers to understand the basics of the art of preluding in England during the classical period, and learn how to improvise skillfully and in a suitable style. This compilation of the most essential knowledge for beginners as well as for professional flutists made «Improved Preceptor» so popular that it was republished before 1855 for 40 times. In the J. Wragg’s treatise «The Improved Flute Preceptor; or the whole art of playing the German Flute» focused the basic theoretical and practical knowledge of the flute performance in England at the end of the 18th century. The great value of the treatise is that the information is set out in it, on the one hand, in detail and deeply, and on the other hand, it is concise and clear. The results of the research support the idea that every methodical work of the 18th century is an important source of unique information that cannot be ignored. It is necessary to try to get acquainted with the greatest number of theoretical and practical manuals which had been written at this time for the most complete understanding of stylistic features of the performing arts of an era. So, the treatise of Jakob Wragg «Improved Flute Preceptor; or the whole art of playing the German Flute» serves as an indispensable manual for contemporary flutists, who aspire to perform the ancient music stylistically correct, and for scientists, who engage in research the history of musical art of the 18th century. Key words: flute; treatise; Jacob Wragg; flute performing art; musical art of the 18th century.