A flute stop of 8', 4', 2', or 1' pitch. Grove describes it as being usually open; according to Williams and Maclean it could be open, stopped, or a Rohrflöte (especially at 1' pitch). All other sources describe it as stopped. Grove gives it a wide scale; Audsley and Wedgwood give it a small scale. It is made of wood, sometimes with chimneys in the stoppers. Its tone is clear, and in the higher pitches, whistle-like. In German organs it frequently appears in the pedal at 2' or 1' pitch, where it is used for playing the melody in choral preludes. Wedgwood claims it was sometimes called Choral-basset. According to Maclean the Bauernflöte is usually found in the pedal, and its manual counterpart is the Feldflöte. According to Adlung, it is often a type of Quintatön, is sometimes considered the same as the Feldflöte, is sometimes called Nachthorn, and is best constructed as a Rohrflöte. Grove dates it from around 1550.

The name Bauernflöte means “peasant flute”. The name Pileata Minima comes to us only by way of a footnote in Audsley's entry for Pileata in which he quotes Regnier, who states that the name Pileata Minima is used for all high-pitched covered stops. Adlung spells “Bäuer...” with an umlaut, the only source to do so.

Variants

Examples

Osiris contains eleven examples of Bauernflöte at 2' pitch, five examples at 1' pitch, and two at 4'; four examples of Bauernpfeife at 2' pitch, and one at 1'. The earliest examples are listed below. No examples of Bauerlein, Bäuerlin, Baurpfeif[e], Pauerflöte, Päurlin, Fistula Rurestris or Pileata Minima are known.

Bauerflöte 2', Pedal I; Cathedral, Oliwa, Poland; Wulf & Dalitz, 1763-93. This is the only known example of this name. This stop may have been added in the mid-1900's.

Bauernflöte 2', Pedal; Abbey, Muri, Switzerland; Schott 1630. This stop may have been added by Bossard in 1743.

Bauernflöte 1'?, Pedal; St. Johannis, Lüneburg, Germany; 1586.

Bauernpfeife 2', Pedal; Cathedral, Passau, Bavaria, Germany; Steinmeyer 1924.

Bauerpfeife 8', Choir; Church of St. Jacobi, Hamburg, Germany.

Bauerpfeife 1', Pedal; Church of St. Domenico, Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Tibia Rurestris 4', Fernwerk; Masthuggskyrkan, Göteborg, Sweden; Magnussons 1952. This is the only known example of this name.

Bibliography