When period instruments first appeared, audiences were highly skeptical of their musical value. It was not until the early-1900s—and performers like Arnold Dolmetsch—that they began to become not only accepted, but increasingly mandated for early music performances. However, while criticisms regarding their use persisted into the 1940s, it has never received the type of intense debate other details of performance practice have. Perhaps because of this lack, scholarship has also neglected to consider what ideological roles period instruments have played in historical performance. Why does the role of period instruments matter?  Partly because most writing about early music includes assumptions about them and their importance; for instance, mid-20th century performance practice guides implicitly assign them considerable authority over the ever-contested designation of “authenticity.” However, this is not the only role period instruments play. I argue that early advocates for period instruments like Arnold Dolmetsch used them to create a type of “intimacy” crucial to many aspects of performance practice. Created through both the instruments' materially and their timbres, this intimacy closes temporal and spatial historical gaps, allowing performers and their audiences to connect with distant musics in a modern way—and allowing “old” music to develop a living musical value.

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint the reader with the state of the recorder as a musical instrument in this century. Information has been gathered from standard texts and journal articles to gain more recent ideas. The work is divided into three sections: (1) a brief history of the instrument; (2) a biographical sketch of Arnold Dolmetsch, the man who was most responsible for the revival of the recorder in this century; and (3) a detailed examination of the use of the recorder today. This last section includes the recorder in education, music written for it, recorder performance and organizations, and construction of the recorder. An appendix lists recorders that are available to players in this country. It is this writer's conclusion that the recorder today has regained its status as a performing medium.