Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/820

 is the ancient form of the flute—with some differences—and is also used very widely.

The flute was first made acceptable for artistic requirements by Theobold Boehm about 1834. Not only did this celebrated inventor contribute to the flute, but his system of key adjustment, fingering, and tube-boring materially assisted the further development of the clarionet and other wood wind-instruments. He was anticipated in this country, however, in many points by Edward Riley, one of the earliest American musical instrument makers of the century. Boehm was a native of Munich, Germany, where he had a shop devoted to the making of wood wind-instruments. Captain Gordon, a Swiss military officer of Scotch extraction, was the inventor of the Boehm system of fingering, but Boehm applied it practically with modifications in 1835, and thus earned the credit of being the inventor. He crossed to London in that year and introduced his instruments to musicians, meeting with great success. These were made with the cylindrical instead of the conical bore and created much attention. Their appearance led to a revolution in the methods of flute-making practiced up to that period. Boehm took out no patent, hence the general adoption of his method of boring and other particulars soon after their introduction. His system of fingering in itself, however, involved a radical departure which musicians and students were loath to take up at once, but it is now firmly established.

Common flutes without keys were made in America before the Revolution, but Riley was the first maker of standing to appear in the field. He had a factory in Franklin Square, New York, as early as 1810, where he produced wood wind-instruments of various kinds for orchestral and band purposes. The firm of Firth & Hall came into existence about 1817, and was devoted to the



manufacture of wood wind-instruments and music-publishing. Thaddeus B. Firth, of Maspeth, Long Island, a grandson of John Firth, yet carries on flute-making as a special branch, in which he has won some distinction. Flutes, flageolets, and piccolos of excellent quality are manufactured by various makers in this country at present, in connection with clarionets and other wood wind-instruments.

The clarionet, which plays a most important part in the domain of musical art, is a product of Germany, where it was invented in