Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/65

 have invented any of these improvementsthey were all known previously. Ribock in 1782 mentions these three keys as being in general use in Germany.

The next step was the addition of a short C♮ key, placed across the tube. Ribock claims to have invented it before 1782; others ascribe it to Petersen of Hamburg, or to one Rodolphe, of whom nothing is known. This key was altered some time before 1806 into a long key (inventor unknown) running along the side of the tube and opened by the first finger of the right hand.

Strange to say, these additional keys, which greatly improved the instrumentthough still very defectivewere much objected to, the existing flute being considered perfect, and were as a rule only used for shakes, especially on the continent. They were little used in France when Devienne published his celebrated Methode (1795). Although Hugot and Wunderlich recommend them in their Tutor of 1801 (where, by the way, the low C♮ and C♯ keys are condemned), they were not generally adopted till the beginning of the nineteenth century. As scornfully remarked of his contemporaries, they only "used the fingering of one hundred years ago because it was used by their grandfathers." To Johann George Tromlitz (c. 1730-1805), a Leipsic flautist, is to be ascribed the invention (before 1786) of the long F♮ key, used on all modern eight-keyed flutes. This key is not much used in playing, and was objected to by Nicholson, who would not have it on his flute, and by Tulou, but was advocated by Drouet. Tromlitz's