FLAGEOLET, WO-let, a small wind-in strument, the notes of which are exceedingly clear and shrill. It is a sort of whistle with a mouth-piece that is usually inserted in a bulb. In appearance, etc., it may be said to belong to the flute family of musical instruments; but it is always used in a vertical instead of hori zontal position. It is generally made of box or other hard wood, though sometimes of ivory, and has six holes for the regulation of its sounds, besides those at the bottom and mouth piece, and that behind the neck. Its compass is two octaves, and a set of five different sizes is needed to take all the semitones in this range. Its inventor is said to have been Sieur Juvigny in the latter part of the 16th century. Pre viously, however, similar instruments had been used for many centuries by a number of peoples of comparatively primitive civilization, as the North American Indians. The use of the flageolet is never indicated in orchestral scores, though it was used with considerable fre quency both as a solo instrument and in small wind bands in England and in most countries of the continent for more than 200 years. It became more or less obsolete in the
beginning of the 19th century. Occasionally, in the French and English provinces, it is still employed chiefly for dance music. Very little music has ever been composed for it. Double and triple flageolets, slightly more complicated variations of the single instrument, have been built, but are seldom used. Consult Burney, Charles, 'A General History of Music, etc.' (4 vols., London 1776-89) ; Cresson, H. T., 'Construction of Ancient Terra-Cotta Pitch Pipes and Flageolets' (in American Nalural ist, Vol. XVIII, p. 498, Philadelphia 1884); Greeting, T., 'Pleasant Companion; or New Lessons and Instructions for the Flageolet> (London 1675) ; Mersenne, M., 'Harmonic Universelle> (Paris 1636).