csakan

The csakan is a transposing instrument in A-flat although it could also be considered a transposing instrument in A when used with guitars which were almost always tuned a semitone down when accompanying the csakan. Modern manufacturers refer to it as "the Romantic recorder". Octaving is achieved on the csakan in the same manner as the recorder, that is by partially opening the thumb hole to allow it to act as a register vent. However, csakans were sometimes equipped with a removable bushing for the thumbhole which would create the correct opening size with the thumb removed from the hole. This necessitates the use of overblown fingerings for C♯5 and D5 which would otherwise be produced from the thumb hole.

In the early 19th century, walking sticks with purposes other than walking aids were fashionable throughout the dual monarchy. This included various items such as telescopes, candlesticks and swords as well as musical instruments. While the walking stick versions of other instruments could simply play the existing repertoire, the walking stick recorder found itself with its own repertoire as the regular recorder was no longer being composed for. According to concert announcements from 1810, Anton Heberle was the inventor of the instrument. Heberle was also the first to perform on it publicly, in a concert in Pest on 18 February 1807. The earliest design of the csakan was either keyless or only equipped with a single key used for playing D♯ (as on the traverso) but by about 1820, an additional 6 keys (for G♯, F, F♯, B♭, low C♯, and a trill key for B-C) had been added. This 7-keyed csakan was referred to as a "complicirte csakan" (sophisticated csakan). Some later csakans had up to 13 keys and a range extending up an additional third with the addition of a special key. Franz Schöllnast, a csakan maker from Bratislava, reported at the time that the csakan was most popular amongst amateur musicians who desired a cheap and easy to play instrument. There were a handful of professional players, most notably the oboist Ernst Krähmer who was described as being able to "diminish and swell the notes, up to an almost unbelievable loudness" suggesting that techniques had been developed to overcome the change of pitch that occurs when increasing or decreasing the breath pressure on fipple flutes. During the course of the 19th century, it appears that some recorders by 18th century makers were converted for use as csakans as evidenced by surviving instruments by Denner and Staub with added keys and thumb hole bushings added to the aforementioned Denner as well as a recorder by Gahn. The csakan continued to be played until around the turn of the 20th century as evidenced by methods by Krähmer (1870), Köhler (1880) and Barth (1910). Around this time, a new instrument referred to as the Vogtland Csakan, Schulcsakan, Schulflöte or Wiener Flageolet came into popularity as a school instrument. These were usually equipped with 6 keys and had 7 finger holes and a thumb hole but were pitched in C. They are more closely related to the English flageolet than to the csakan. These were quickly overtaken in popularity by the newly rediscovered and much cheaper soprano recorder.

Anton Heberle's Sonate Brillante Anton Heberle's Fantasie Ernst Krähmer's 12 Original-Ländler, op. 17 Ernst Krähmer's arrangements of Johann Strauss II Galoppe und Walzer

Ernst Krähmer's Rondeau Hongrois, op. 28 Joseph Gebauer's Sonate, op. 17 August Eberhard Müller's arrangement of Carl Maria von Weber's Rondo, op. 39

Anton Heberle's Andante con variazioni Karl Scholl's Quartetto Wilhelm Klingenbrunner's 12 Walzer, op. 47

Anton Heberle's Concertino Ernst Krähmer's Concert Polonaise, op. 5

Anton Heberle Ernst Krähmer (1795–1837) Hugo Reyne (born 1961) Nik Tarasov