Page:EB1911 - Volume 10.djvu/603

Rh time flutes were constructed with the lower extremity lengthened sufficiently to produce the fundamental C, and furnished with a supplementary key to produce the C♯. This innovation, spoken of by Quantz did not meet with a very favourable reception, and was shortly afterwards abandoned. Passing mention may be made of the drawing of a flute with a C key in the Music-Saal of J. F. B. Majer (Nuremberg, 1741), p. 45.

The tuning of the instrument to different pitches was effected by changes in the length, and notably by substituting a longer or shorter upper piece in the middle joint. So wide were the differences in the pitches then in use that seven such pieces for the upper portion of it were deemed necessary. The relative proportions between the different parts of the instrument being altered by these modifications in the length, it was conceived that the just relation could be re-established by dividing the foot into two pieces, below the key. These two pieces were adjusted by means of a tenon, and it was asserted that, in this way, the foot could be lengthened proportionately to the length of the middle joint. Flutes thus improved took the name of “flûtes à registre.” The register system was, about 1752, applied by Quantz to the head joint and, the embouchure section being thus capable of elongation, it was allowable to the performer, according to the opinion of this professor, to lower the pitch of the flute a semitone, without having recourse to other lengthening pieces, and without disturbing the accuracy of intonation. The upper extremity of the flute, beyond the embouchure orifice, is closed by means of a cork stopper. On the position of this cork depends, in a great measure, the accurate tuning of the flute. It is in its right place when the accompanying octaves are true. Quantz, in speaking of this accessory, mentions the use of a nut-screw to give the required position to the cork. He does not name the inventor of this appliance, but, according to Tromlitz, the improvement was due to Quantz himself. The invention goes back to 1726.

When the Method of Quantz appeared there were still in use, besides the orchestral flute in D, the little fourth flute in G, the low fourth flute in A, and the flûte d’amour a note higher; in France they had, moreover, the little octave flute in D (octave). A bass flute in D had also been attempted (see fig. 5). When Ribock published his Bemerkungen über die Flöte the flute had already the five keys here shown. This author states that the inventor of these new keys is not known to him, but that either Kusder, a musical instrument-maker in London, or Johann Georg Tromlitz of Leipzig was the originator, since he has not been able to trace those keys on the flutes of any other maker. Although Tromlitz does not claim for himself the invention of the keys for F, G♯ and B♭, he states that “he had occupied himself for several years in applying these keys so as not to augment the difficulty of playing, but on the contrary to render the handling of them as easy as possible.” In the later work published in 1800, however, he seems to attribute the invention of these keys to Richard Potter of London; he says that he has never yet been fortunate enough to come across a good flute by that maker—“the flute has certainly gained by the addition of the keys for F, G♯ and B♭, but this is not everything, for on such a flute much must perforce be left unattempted. . . . Only a flute with eight keys according to my invention is capable of everything.” It would seem, moreover, from circumstantial evidence stated clearly and on good authority by Rockstro that the keys for F, G♯ and B♭ must have been used first in England and made by Richard Potter before 1774. The higher key of C adopted from 1786 by Tromlitz, we believe to have been first recommended by Ribock (1782). Tromlitz in Über Flöten describes at length what may be termed the first systematic effort to overcome the difficulties created by the combination of open holes and closed keys. He attempted to solve the question by determining the positions of the holes according to the exigencies of fingering instead of subordinating them to the more arbitrary theories connected with the musical scale.

In 1785 Richard Potter improved Quantz’s slide applied to the head joint as well as to the register of the foot by a double system of tubes forming double sliding air-tight joints. In the document describing this improvement Potter patented the idea of lining the holes with silver tubes and of adapting metal conical valves to the keys. Potter’s patent conical valves were an adaptation of the contrivance first invented by J. F. Boie or Boye of Göttingen, who used pewter for the plugs, and silver for lining the holes. The keys mentioned in the patent were four—D♯, F, G♯, A♯. The idea of extending the compass of the flute downwards was taken up again about the same time by two players of the flute in London named Tacet and Florio. They devised a new disposition of the keys C and C♯, and confided the execution of their invention to Potter. In Dr Arnold’s New Instructions for the German Flute occurs a tablature, the engraving of which goes back to the end of the 18th century, and bears the following title, “A Complete Drawing and Concise Scale and Description of Tacet and Florio’s new invented German Flute, with all the additional keys explained.” It explains the use of six keys—C, C♯, D♯, F, G♯, A♯—that are not always figured, because the employment of so many keys was at once admitted. Tromlitz himself, who, however, made flutes with nine keys—adding E♭, another F, and C♮, declared that he was not in favour of so great a complication, and that he preferred the flute with only two keys, D♯ and E♭, with a register foot joint and a cork nut-screw at the head joint. This instrument met all requirements. He was always much opposed to the use of the old keys for C♮ and C♯, because they altered the recognised quality of tone of the instrument. When Tromlitz published his method, the family of flutes had become modified. It comprehended only the typical flute in D, the flûte d’amour a minor third lower, a “third” flute a minor third higher, and, finally, the little octave flute.

While Tromlitz was struggling in Germany with the idea of augmenting the compass of the flute downwards by employing open keys for C♮ and C♯, an Italian, Giovanni Batista Orazi, increased the scale of the instrument downwards by the application of five new keys, viz. B, B♭, A, A♭, and G. At the same time that he produced this invention he conceived the plugging of the lateral holes by the valve keys then recently invented by Potter. But it was hardly possible to obtain a perfect plugging of seven lateral holes with the aid of as many keys, for the control of which there were only the two little fingers, and therefore this invention of Orazi proved a failure.

In 1808 the Rev. Frederick Nolan, of Stratford, near London, conceived an open key, the lever of which, terminating by a ring, permitted the closing of a lateral hole at the same time the key was being acted upon. The combination in this double action is the embryo of the mechanism that a little later was to transform the system of the flute. Two years later Macgregor, a musical-instrument maker in London, constructed a bass flute an octave lower than the ordinary flute. The idea was not new, as is proved by the existence of the bass flute mentioned above. The difference between the two instruments lies in the mechanism of the keys. That employed by Macgregor consisted of a double lever, a contrivance dating from before the middle of the 18th century, of which the application is seen in an oboe of large dimensions preserved in the National Museum at Munich.

In 1811 Johann Nepomuk Capeller invented the extra D♮ hole and key, which is still in constant use on every flute of modern construction. About 1830 the celebrated French flautist Tulou added two more keys, those of F♯ and C♯, and a key, called “de cadence,” to facilitate the accompanying shakes.

To increase the number of keys, to improve their system of plugging, and to extend the scale of the instrument in the lower region,—these had hitherto been the principal problems dealt with in the improvement of the flute. No maker, no inventor to whose labours we have called attention, had as yet devoted his attention to the rational division of the column of air by means of the lateral holes. In 1831 Theobald Boehm, a Bavarian, happening to be in London, was struck with the power of tone the celebrated English performer Charles Nicholson drew from his instrument. Boehm learned, and not without astonishment, that his English colleague obtained this result by giving the lateral holes a much greater diameter than was then usually admitted. About the same time Boehm made the acquaintance of an amateur player named Gordon, who had effected certain improvements; he had bored the lateral hole for the lower E, and had covered it with a key, while he had replaced the key for F with a ring. These innovations set Boehm about attempting a complete reform of the