The transverse flute was especially popular at the French court; decisive impulses for the instrument's further technical and sonorous development came from France. A genuine "boom" for this instrument developed, initiated by the publication of Hotteterre's Principles de la Flute Traversiere in 1707. At the same time, Italian tastes in music found their way into the metropolis of Paris. Many travelling virtuosos and child prodigies came to the city as a result of the founding of the public series Concerts spirituels in 1725; they were enthusiastically received by a large audience consisting of members of the bourgeoisie and the nobility. The French flute virtuosos – especially Blavet and Buffardin – seized on this trend and appeared in public with Italian-inspired flute concertos.

With his new CD, Frank Theuns and his ensemble Les Buffardins offer an overview of the development of the late-baroque transverse flute repertoire in France, introducing concertos by such great composers of the age as Jean-Marie Leclair, Michel Blavet, Pierre Gabriel Buffardin and Jacques Christophe Naudot.