Flute…huh? – MHS 123: Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century

7:55 am. I wake up to my screeching alarm and quickly jump out of bed, in a rush to get ready and get to the practice room. As I walk with purpose and determination I begin to envision what I will work on and what I want to accomplish for my morning warm-up. At this point, my flute has become such a part of me that I don’t even think twice about putting it together or playing my first notes of the day. As I start to play around with sound and vibrato my mind begins to light up with electricity, almost causing a chain reaction of panic and grief. Times like these make me want to quit the flute and start over because when things aren’t going right I tend to think that they will never go right. Sometimes I even stare at my flute in my hand and think “what the fuck is is…?”

“Wait a second, what the actual fuck is this?”

And that my friends is where my uneducated self begins to ask..”what even is the flute and who created this thing that causes me so much joy and grief?” and after doing some research this is what I found..first things first, before 1820 the flute was a mess and that’s a whole different topic that we can save for later.

Perhaps the most important year in flute making is 1832, thanks to a nice guy named Theobald Boehm. He was born in Munich Germany where he was a goldsmith and jeweler. He had always been a musician at heart from a very young age and by 1818 he was dividing his careers of goldsmith and being professional flutist in the orchestra of the royal court in Munich. By 1828, Boehm had put together a workshop to manufacture instruments. “In 1831, while visiting London, Boehm attended a concert of Charles Nicholson whose flute had unusually large finger holes which produced an exceptionally large and fine tone.” (Gemeinhardt)

The legend himself: Theo

After hearing this beautiful rich tone, Theo got a brilliant idea…why not make a conical flute with perfectly positioned toneholes for intonation and sound color and get rich! And so he did…His conical flute of 1832 was gradually accepted by the most important players of the time, and by 1843 Boehm had licensed flutemakers in London and Paris to manufacture this new instrument. In 1846, Boehm continued to perfect the flute while studying acoustics with Carl von Schafhautl at the University of Munich.

Thought he was done, NOPE.

In 1847 Boehm presents an improved flute with a parabolically conical headjoint.

“The new flute also included an improved key work which featured the pin springs patented in 1839 by Louis-Auguste Buffet. Boehm added felt pads to the key cups to prevent the escape of air. He changed the shape of the embouchure, which hitherto had been oval or round, to a rectangle with rounded corners. The material he chose was German silver, to which he ascribed the best acoustic properties.” (Vienna Symphonic Library)

Fun fact: Boehm composed for flute as well! Check this out! https://youtu.be/rikBBiqgKVE

And that folks is how flute makers to this day assemble flutes. Some modifications to Boehms model include lighter weight and fancy “cheater” keys for trills and bad fingerings. Now that the flute is at its prime as far as technological innovation, composers have really pumped out works for us given our rich tone and ability to sound like the human voice.

Today’s flute: