Fife English Fifre French Pfeife German

Audsley and Irwin list Fife as a shrill open metal flute of 2' or 1' pitch. Wedgwood lists Fifre as a synonym for the Fifteenth or Twenty-Second, or a two-rank Mixture consisting of a 26th and a 29th. Only Audley lists all three names as synonyms, though he also lists Pfeife separately. According to Strony, the theatre organ Fife was extended from the Tibia Clausa or Concert Flute.

Examples

Osiris contains nine examples of Fife, all at 1' pitch except for one at 2' in a pedal division. That source contains only one example of Fifre (see below). No examples of Pfeife are known. Contributions welcome.

Fifre 1', Choeur; Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Casavant 1996.

Fife 2', Pedal; National Cathedral, Washington DC, USA; Skinner 1929.

Fife 1', Choir; Christ Church, Westerly, Rhode Island, USA; Fisk 1965.

Bibliography