Story of the Flute
immense execution; he wrote some interesting Studies for the flute. Whilst engaged on the preparation of a new Method for the Flute, he was attacked by a nervous fever, in which he wounded himself with a knife and then threw himself headlong from a fourth-storey window, dying in a few seconds. Wunderlich completed the Method, which was long esteemed the best in existence. Wunderlich's most celebrated pupils were Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier (1782-1838) andBerbiguier Jean Louis Tulou (1786-1865). Like Blavet, Sola, and several other flautists of note, Berbiguier was left-handed. In 1813 he left Paris in order to avoid the conscription (as did also Tulou and Camus), but two years later he became a lieutenant in the army, having owing to his small stature to obtain special permission to hold this appointment. In 1830 his devotion to the House of Bourbon got him into political trouble and forced him to quit Paris. He went to live near Blois with a friend named Desforges, a 'cello player for whom he wrote many duets for flute and 'cello. At Desforges' funeral, Berbiguier remarked, "In eight days you will bear me also to the grave"—a prediction that was literally fulfilled. Berbiguier had a peculiarly soft tone but was defective in articulation.
Tulou began to take lessons at the age of eleven, and when thirteen he obtained the second prize forTulou flute-playing at the Paris Conservatoire. The following year the first prize was withheld from him solely on account of his youth. At fifteen he was considered the finest flute-player in all France.196
