Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin was clearly one of the most important flautists of the 18th century. Even though we still know surprisingly little about his life, all the evidence suggests that Buffardin was an exceptional player who, half a generation after Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, suddenly transformed flute playing. We can see this in the works that J.S. Bach composed for him, in flute solos in music written for the Dresden court orchestra, and in other works. Thanks to his close contacts with Bach, it is clear that Bach's sons were also familiar with Buffardin's flute playing: he evidently set the same standards for them as well.
Buffardin and his younger colleague Michel Blavet contributed significantly to the development of the flute and to its transformation into a solo instrument; highly demanding works were composed for the instrument from their time onwards. The instrument that Buffardin himself constructed -- which I possess -- was clearly central to this development. Compared to other early flutes with four joints, this flute is very stable in intonation and already relatively flexible, it also has a quick response that allows the player to perform virtuoso passages.
The instrument is certainly puzzling and it is difficult to date precisely. While some details of the bore and of the external design point to a quite early instrument, others seem to refer to later instruments; there is no doubt, however, that the instrument is exceptional. If we wish to understand this flute's history and to classify it correctly, I feel that we must
consider it in context. It is clear that Buffardin was an outstanding flautist, but he also seems to have rapidly adopted an instrument that could be used in every key and which had an attractive sound. Buffardin was thus not only able to present himself at the Dresden Hofkapelle as a solo flautist in the modern sense, but also received one of the highest salaries there, with a reputation as one of the orchestra's outstanding soloists. Furthermore, the maker's marks on the flute are interesting: each part of the flute has two such marks. The instrument originally bore the marking Buffardin, with Le Fils added at a slightly different angle. This caused much initial confusion, as some flute researchers suspected that P.-G. Buffardin's son was the maker. The mystery was only solved with the discovery of a document in which Buffardin's father is named as a turner and wind instrument maker. It is therefore reasonable to assume that Buffardin first learned his father's trade, as was customary at the time; since he presumably worked in his father's own workshop, he also used his father's mark and then added Le Fils.
If this assumption is correct, it would mean that Buffardin made the present flute before he left Avignon, the place of his birth. His father's mark would probably have no longer been available to him, and he would have had to have one made for his own use, either with "P.-G. Buffardin" or "Buffardin Le Fils" on one line.
Performers on this Recording:
Harpsichord: Anne-Catherine Bucher, Wiebke Weidanz, Alexander von Heiben
Tangent piano: Ricardo Magnus
Clavichord: Jan Weinhold
