The Art of Breath. Wind Instruments from the Museum’s Collection according to Jacques-Martin Hotteterre

On Sunday, May 3, 2026 at the Museo della Musica in Bologna, for “Variazioni”: The Art of Breath. Wind Instruments from the Museum’s Collection according to Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, a “sonata visit” with Paolo Faldi, baroque wind instruments.

The final “sonata visit” of the “wunderkammer” season invites the audience to enter the elegant, ingenious, and surprisingly modern world of the Hotteterre family—a dynasty of instrument makers, virtuosos, and composers who, between the 17th and 18th centuries, forever transformed the way wind instruments were conceived.

In the rooms of the Museo della Musica, flutist and teacher Paolo Faldi will guide visitors through a vivid and musical journey, creating a dialogue between the museum’s valuable collection and the works and ideas that made the Hotteterre family renowned.

Between 1670 and 1720, the family produced an impressive amount of music for transverse flute, recorder, oboe, and bassoon— instruments they modified and refined to suit the sophisticated taste of the court of Louis XIV. Thanks to them, the polished and luminous sound of these instruments spread through the halls of Versailles, becoming an essential part of the Sun King’s aesthetic. Among the key figures stands Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, author of two fundamental treatises: Principes de la flûte à bec ou flûte d’Allemagne, de la flûte traversière et du hautbois (1707, displayed in Room 8) and L’art de préluder sur la flûte traversière (1719). These works not only taught how to play, but also revealed a new way of thinking about breath, ornamentation, and the freedom of improvisation.

During the sonata visit, Faldi will perform some of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre’s famous Preludes and, also thanks to the presence of original instruments on display, will illustrate how music was studied, built, and experienced in the Baroque era. An encounter where theory and practice, history and sound intertwine, offering the audience the subtle—and revolutionary—art of breath.