This article deals with the art of preluding as described by Jacques Martin Hotteterre in his treatise L’Art de Préluder, and how one can use it to design simple, self-composed preludes.

L'art de préluder sur la flûte traversière, sur la flûte à bec, sur le hautbois et autres instruments de dessus, the first published method devoted to improvisation for melodic instruments, is essential for daily traverso practice because it can turn warm-ups into short, improvised preludes that teach key-setting, meter–affect matching, clear harmonic frameworks (canavas), and idiomatic ornaments. Practiced this way, the flute starts to “speak” the iconic French Baroque language naturally and with stylistic confidence.

On the occasion of my recent recording of a complete collection of Hotteterre's preludes in every key, I engaged intensively with this fascinating work and with a historical reconstruction of a Hotteterre flute after a Graz model from around 1700.

In this artikle, I would like to give a brief overview of the background of the book, of Hotteterre and his historical context, as well as a purely practical approach to Hotteterre’s “musical language” and to the possible design of one’s own prelude in his style.

Why this matters: Learning to prelude is the gateway to improvisation. Hotteterre gives us models, traits, patterns, and canavas that you can directly use to start preluding yourself.

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763), known as “le Romain,” was the leading French traverso player of the early eighteenth century—virtuoso, composer, teacher, and pillar of the Hotteterre family of wind players and makers. Active in Paris and at the French court, he helped define the refined rhetoric of the French style: supple line, nuanced articulation, and expressive agréments. His landmark treatise, Principes de la flûte traversière, ou flûte d’Allemagne, et autres instruments à vent (Paris, 1707), codifies embouchure, fingerings, tonguing, ornament practice, and character, influencing players across Europe. In his suites and chamber music he balances elegance with invention, favoring cantabile expression over empty display. Through his performing and teaching he shaped generations of flutists, leaving a repertoire and pedagogy that still guide how traverso players tune, phrase, and convey affect today.

Hotteterre opens with a clear guide to the octave’s degrees—how to begin and end on the right tones—then lays out the “elements of the prelude” with practical variants you can recombine at the instrument. He follows with model preludes in every key and a companion set of traits—short, capricious studies in all keys—to warm up fingers, breath, and style. To move from study to invention he adds canevas, concise harmonic outlines across the keys, supported by exercises and rules for modulation, a practical guide to cadences, and a method for transposition so ideas can travel. A brief dissertation links time signatures, affects, and tempi, showing why certain meters fit certain characters. The treatise culminates in two extended composed preludes—one in the major mode and one in the minor—whose phrases cadence on every degree of the octave (with an optional bass), elegantly demonstrating everything taught

In eighteenth-century practice, a prelude is a short, flexible opening—often improvised—that lets the player settle the instrument, confirm the key, and announce the intended affect. Rather than a fixed movement, it’s a poised exploration that touches the harmony of the mode and finds the right color before the main piece begins.

Here are a couple of historical definitions:

• Académie française (1718): “An irregular piece to check tuning and get into the flow.”
• Rousseau, Dictionnaire de musique (1768): “A short, irregular idea touching the essential chords of the key.”

It may appear in two ways (after Hotteterre):

• Composed prelude: notated as the opening of a suite, sonata, cantata, or opera, preparing the ear for what follows.
• Improvised prelude: the truest form—spontaneous and personal, crafted on the spot to establish key and character, and the focus of this Pill. (“Although I have classified most of these preludes, one should not be too strict about keeping strict time when playing them from memory.” — Hotteterre, Ch. III)

The improvised preludes can be mesuré or non-mesuré:

• Non-mesuré: unbarred or loosely barred notation; free rhythm and rhetorical pacing; sustained tones and expressive arpeggiation; favored for grave or tender affects.

• Mesuré: time signature indicated (2/4, C, 2, 3/8); a clear pulse with brighter figuration (dotted rhythms, triplets, sequences); suited to gay or animated characters.

In the second chapter of his book, Hotteterre writes about the elements of the prelude with several variations. These elements are essential when attempting to improvise a prelude in Hotteterre’s style.

The basic building blocks include the following: 

PRIMARY AFFECTION:

Choose from Gravement, Lentement,Tendrement, Gay, Animé etc.

OPENING CHORD TONES:

Outline the key’s harmony (e.g. G–B–D for G major; can also be used in minor or transposed to any key) 

The main chord tones of a key are a kind of “outline” or “framework” that underlies the preludes. With the following variations or “patterns,” Hotteterre describes how these main chord tones can be connected with melodic and varied “movements.” These include, for example, simple scales, leaps of a third, or triplet figures in sequence. It is also entirely possible to use freely invented or personal patterns; his are given only as examples. Yet stylistically it is advisable to use the ones he suggests, in order to remain as close as possible to Hotteterre’s “musical language.”

MOTIVIC PATERNS:

TRAITS:

In the fourth chapter of his book, Hotteterre writes about traits in all keys. These are short fragments, in the style of caprices or very brief études. They serve the player as a way to “play around” on the instrument, to feel comfortable—warming up the body (breath, fingers, lips, embouchure) and practicing certain challenging passages (e.g. large leaps, etc.) outside the context of complete pieces. These can also be useful for one’s own improvisations: becoming familiar with different rhythms, meters, keys, movements, and affects in the style of the time.

CANEVAS:

Literally “frameworks” or “sketches.” These are schematic outlines of harmonic progressions that show how to move from one key area to another. They act like blueprints for improvisation, allowing the player to fill in details with scales, ornaments, or personal inventions while staying grounded in Hotteterre’s harmonic language.

CLOSING CADENCE:

Clear punctuation at the end; Hotteterre gives many examples ( notice those marked in red):

Now its time to start your own fascinating journey, practice the improvisation of preludes more systematically... and have fun.