As a merely quiet instrument the flute was nevertheless always able to hold its ground in the orchestra and in wind ensembles. It was made of wood or metal, had a variable number of keys, and it ranges in size from the piccolo to the contrabass flute that’s over three metres long.
The flute family
... has a varied history
Conservation and restoration
Wind instruments are especially fragile when made of wood. If we start playing a historical instrument again, it can split the wood. This is why – if playing it is allowed at all – we have to treat it first with oil. Its mechanism is often very delicate, and so has to be revised too. Only if we take such precautions can we get a reliable impression of what it used to sound like.
A project of the HKB has involved doing this for a selection of wooden instruments from the “Klingendes Museum” in Bern. Andreas Schöni restored them to playability, without, however, making any interventions in the substance of the instruments.
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These instruments included five flutes and a piccolo:
- Traverso by Augustin Grenser, Dresden, ca. 1780, 1 key, 3 upper joints for different pitches (ca 420 Hz, 425 Hz, 438 Hz), boxwood, ivory, brass
- Traverso by Andreas Schöni, Bern, 2019, replica of the Grenser flute
- Flute by Martin Thibouville ainé, Paris, 2nd half of the 19th century, grenadilla wood, nickel silver, 7 keys, C foot
- Flute by Clair Godfroy ainé, Paris um 1850, rosewood, gold-plated mechanism, Böhm system, 1st patent, closed g# flute (Dorus), C foot
Suitable for playing French music of the time, such as a trio by Louise Farrenc (see Video above). - Flute by Th. Böhm – Mendler, Munich, ca 1880, silver with gold lip plate, open g sharp, b flat with double thumb key
- Piccolo Louis Lot, Paris, ca 1870, grenadilla wood, nickel silver
