Opus 43 - Classical Flute in C |
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he development of the wooden flute reached its peak in the latter half of the eighteenth century. A group of London flute makers had apparently developed a flute with four keys. Other pairs of keys were subsequently added, bringing the total to eight.
Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert wrote music for this type of flute, which was usually made of wood, but occasionally of ivory, and was equipped with up to eight keys. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the metal flute appeared, thanks to the German flute maker Theobald Boehm (1794-1881). The flute shown here is based on a model by Richard Potter (1726-1806), an English flute maker who significantly improved the construction of the instrument. This flute in C with six keys (C#, D, D#, F, G# and Bb) has an interchangeable middle joint so that the instrument can be tuned to A=430 and A=440. It is made of granadilla wood and has polyester resin mounts. The keys are made of brass. |