The Story of the Flute/Chapter 18

by Henry Macaulay Fitzgibbon

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CHAPTER XVIII.

CURIOSITIES OF THE FLUTE.

Flutes of curious materials—Walking-stick flutes—Ornamented flutes—Böhm's crutch—Ward's Terminator—Various other inventions—The Giorgi flute—Automaton players—Dulon, the blind flautist—Rebsomen, the one-armed flautist—Hallet, the youthful prodigy—How to silence a flautist.

Flutes have been made out of some very extraordinary materials. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians oftenFlutes made
of Curious
Materials used the bones of animals and birds ("Sebi," "Tibia," and "Schwegel" all mean "leg-bone"), as certain savage nations do to-day. Animals' horns were also used, and there is in the Ashmolean Museum a remarkable specimen of such a flute found in an early Egyptian tomb, having some of the holes pierced in the solid end of the horn, apparently merely for ornament. Marble and jade has been used by the Greeks and by the Chinese. The Portuguese make flutes of terra-cotta and baked clay. A porcelain flute, said to have once belonged to Charles II., is still in existence; and flutes made of Dresden china are to be seen in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire. Rossini possessed a flute-à-bec made of tortoise-shell, inlaid with gold. Ivory flutes (also used by the ancients) and piccolos were quite common at one period, and Dorus possessed one with gold keys and mountings. It is still frequently used for the headjoint in Germany and Russia. Glass flutes are as old as Mersenne; many such were made in Paris by Breton, and by Laurent about 1806, and in London by Garrett about 1820. Papier-mache and even wax have also been tried, and one Gavin Wilson, a shoemaker in Edinburgh in 1789, says he made a flute of leather! A very peculiar flute, which combined a tobacco-pouch, made from a cocoa-nut and engraved canes, and which formerly belonged to an itinerant musician at Fez in Northern Morocco, was exhibited at South Kensington in 1872. The great John Bunyan when in gaol cut a flute out of the leg of his prison chair; it is a pity that this interesting relic has not been preserved.

In Mediæval Europe one form of flute was known as "Pilgrim staves," and is said (probablyWalking-
Stick Flutes erroneously) to have been so named because they were used by the pilgrims to the shrine of St. James of Compostella; as Southey sings:—

"The staff was bored and drilled for those
  Who on a flute could play;
And thus the merry pilgrim
  Had music on his way."
—The Pilgrim to Compostella.

Walking-stick flutes were at one time quite popular, especially in France, where they were termed " cannes-flutes." Fetis, the musical historian, always carried one about with him. Flutes-à-bec of this description, with two keys, were made as late as 1800; but they were more usually transverse flutes. Mr. Rockstro describes one which consisted of two small flutes placed in a line and so arranged that two persons walking arm-in-arm could play duets on them; each flute had four wooden keys fashioned in imitation of the stumps of twigs. Other sticks had a flute at one end and a piccolo at the other, and some contained also a sword. Several specimens are to be seen in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire, and they are still to be met with occasionally in slop-shops. Clinton had a flute-caseOrnamented
Flutes made to resemble a closed umbrella. In the days of Nicholson ornamental head-joints and rings were much used, and Monzani made head-joints fluted like Greek pillars. Another curious feature in some early nineteenth century flutes is that although the tube is outwardly cylindrical it is inwardly conoidal. In some very modern flutes the wood or ebonite of the head-joint is thinned till it becomes a mere shell, and in others this is done to the entire tube. This is supposed to produce a sympathetic and beautiful tone more easily, but there is always a risk of breakage and of leakage of air.

Several strange inventions have appeared from time to time, none of which has ever become general. Böhm invented a curious moveable "crutch" for the purpose of obtaining a steady hold of the instrument and leaving the left hand free. A short pillar is fastened into the under side of the tube near the C hole, and

Fig. 14.—Böhm's Crutch

the other end of itVarious
Inventions is fitted with a small cross-piece of wood, which rests between the thumb and fore-finger of the left hand, thus supporting the whole weight of the flute. But this cramps the action of the

Fig. 15.—Ward's Terminator and Indicator.

thumb. Capeller invented a moveable mouthpiece, which was highly praised by Carl Maria von Weber in 1811. This contrivance was placed on an oval plate fixed on the head-joint, and both it and the cork could be moved by a screw. Ward devised a somewhat similar patent tuning-head, which he called a Terminator and Indicator. The method of using it was as follows: "Place the ring at N opposite a number (on either side of the circle) corresponding to that which shows itself at the top of the slide at M. This moves the (cork) termination of the flute correspondingly." Notice the square mouth-hole.

One Charles G. Townley in 1808 invented a system of tuning levers, moved by the left-hand thumb, to open or close the tuning-slide whilst playing. He also devised a mouthpiece to be attached to the end of the
Fig. 17.—Giorgi's Keyless Flute.flute so as to enable it to be held straight downwards. W. Wheatstone (1820) patented a similar mouthpiece; and the idea seems to

Fig. 16.—Signor Giorgi and his Keyless Flute.

have taken the fancy of Bohm, who says that if he were a younger man he would make a flute that could be played like a clarinet. In 1896 this device was reproduced by Signor Giorgi of Florence. His flute has no keys whatever (though they can be added to it), and has a mouthpiece fitted with a mouth-hole
Fig. 18.—Heckel's Cap.like the ordinary flute, but placed crosswise across the end of the tube. Heckel, of Biebrich, has recently invented a small metal cap to be attached to the open end of the tube; this, he claims, increases the purity and beauty of the tone. Mollenhauer, another German maker, has produced

Fig. 19.—Mollenhauer's Mouthpiece.

a curious modification of the mouth-hole, which resembles that on the ancient flute found by Newton at Halicarnassus (see p. 23, ante).

D'Israeli in his Curiosities of Literature, and Hoffmann in his Serapion Brethren, both make allusions to an automaton flute-player constructed by Jacques Vaucauson, which was exhibited in Paris in 1738 and is thusAutomaton
Flute-
Players described in D'Alembert's Encyclopédie Methodique: "A gigantic mechanical flute-player stood on a pedestal in which some of the works were contained, and not only blew into the flute, but with its lips increased and diminished the tones which it forced out of the instrument, performing the legato and staccato passages with the utmost perfection. The fingering was also perfectly accurate." Another mechanical flute-player is mentioned in Thomas Amory's Life of John Buncle, 1756; Buncle (probably Amory himself) is described as playing the German flute, which he always carried about with him in a long inside pocket of his coat. He met with this automaton at the house of a Mrs. Fitzgibbons at Clankford, near Knaresborough, in Yorkshire. Here is Amory's description:—

"In the apartment were two figures dressed like a shepherd and shepherdess. They sat on a rich couch, in a gay alcove, and both played the German flute. They moved their heads, their arms, their eyes, their fingers, and seemed to look with a consciousness at each other, while they breathed, at my entering the room, that fine piece of music, the 'Masquerade Minuet;' and afterwards several excellent pieces. I thought at first they were living creatures; but on examination finding they were only wood, my admiration increased and became exceedingly great, when I saw by shutting their mouths and stopping their fingers, that the music did not proceed from any organ within the figures. It was an extraordinary piece of clock-work, invented and made by one John Nixon, a poor man."

Several blind flautists have gained a considerable reputation. One named Joseph Winter lived about 1770. The most celebrated was Friedrich Ludwig Dulon (1769-1826), of Brandenburg, blind from childhood, who played in public at the age of ten, his tone and execution attracting much attention.Blind and
one-armed
Flautists Two years later he gave a concert in Berlin, and subsequently played duets with Tromlitz in Leipsic. In 1786 he performed at the English Court, and in 1795 became one of the Royal musicians at St. Petersburg. Dulon was a man of very considerable ability, and wrote several works for the flute and other instruments. Possessing a wonderful memory, he could learn a long concerto in a couple of hours, and at the age of forty he had a repertoire of over three hundred pieces. (For portrait see p. 204, ante.)

Several one-armed persons have been flautists, performing on flutes with special mechanism, the lower end being supported by a pillar attached to a table. Such a flute, descending to the low B, was made for Count Rebsomen in 1842, under the Count's own direction. Rebsomen had lost his left arm and his right leg in Napoleon's campaigns, and was subsequently connected with the French Embassy in London. The fingering of the left hand was replaced by keys placed between the holes for the right hand. These keys were opened by the second joints of the right hand fingers. The Count was an excellent performer, possessing considerable execution, and it is said that the audience would not have discovered from his playing that he had only one hand. One day he presented himself to Berbiguier in Paris, with his flute under his solitary arm and demanded to play a duet with the virtuoso. The latter began to laugh, but on being pressed, consented. Rebsomen thereupon took out a little pole, screwed it on to the table, attached his flute to it, and proceeded to prelude. Berbiguier was so astonished at his playing that he not only played the duet with him, but actually dedicated the work (op. 46) to the Count. It may be noted here that Beckert has composed a flute solo entitled The Nightingale for the left hand only, in which he uses harmonics to produce notes otherwise impossible.

Karl Grenser (b. 1794) is reputed to have played the flute in public at the age of six. This, however, isProdigies beaten by Benjamin Hallet, who is said to have appeared at Drury Lane Theatre in 1748, dressed as a girl, when not quite five years old (he certainly does not look much older in his portrait), and to have played the flute there for fifty nights with extraordinary skill and applause. In the following year he appeared in public as a violoncellist. The General Advertiser of 1748-9 announced "by desire, a concerto on the flute by the child" to be played between the acts. In December 1751 he appeared in an entertainment entitled "The Old Woman's Oratory, conducted by Mrs. Mary Midnight," produced by Colley Cibber, and in November 1753 the advertisement of a programme of a concert at The Five Bells, New Church in the Strand, included "a solo on the little flute by Master Hallet."

It is said that an eminent solo flautist at a public

Count Rebsomen (pg 260, The Story of the Flute, 1914)

Count Rebsomen.

(From a portrait in the possession of Messrs. Rudall, Carte & Co.)

performance was once rendered incapable of playing by an enemy who stationed himself in a prominent position and noisily sucked a lemon all the time. The sight of the sucker's mouth puckered up by the sourHow to
Silence a
Flautist lemon juice produced this strange result. I have not myself tried the experiment, but The Musical Record mentions that a scientist who was disturbed by a street band, paid a boy to suck a lemon in front of the flute-player. The band moved its position several times, pursued by the boy. At last the infuriated bandmaster struck the lemon from the boy's mouth, whereupon he began to howl and attracted a policeman, who inquired into the case and decided that the boy had a perfect right to suck the lemon in the public street.