Part 30

While Tromlitz was struggling in Germany with the idea of augmenting the compass of the flute downwards by employing open keys for C[natural] and C[sharp], an Italian, Giovanni Batista Orazi,[44] increased the scale of the instrument downwards by the application of five new keys, viz. B, B[flat], A, A[flat], and G. At the same time that he produced this invention [45] 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,[46] 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,[47] 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.[48]

In 1811 Johann Nepomuk Capeller invented the extra D[natural] hole and key, which is still in constant use on every flute of modern construction.[49]

About 1830 the celebrated French flautist Tulou added two more keys, those of F[sharp] and C[sharp], 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 [notes] 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 instrument.[50] He went resolutely to work, and during the year 1832 he produced the new flute which bears his name. This instrument is distinguished by a new mechanism of keys, as well as by larger holes disposed along the tube in geometrical progression.

Boehm's system had preserved the key of G[sharp] open; Coche,[51] a professor in the Paris Conservatoire, assisted by Auguste Buffet the younger, a musical-instrument maker in that city, modified Boehm's flute by closing the G[sharp] with a key, wishing thus to render the new fingering more conformable to the old. He thus added a key, facilitating the shake upon C[sharp] with D[sharp], and brought about some other changes in the instrument of less importance.

Boehm had not, however, altered the bore of the flute, which had been conical from the end of the 17th century. In 1846, however, he made further experiments, and the results obtained were put in practice by the construction of a new instrument, of which the body was given a cylindrical bore, while the diameter of the head was modified at the embouchure, the head-joint becoming parabolic (see fig. 2). The inventor thus obtained a remarkable equality in the tones of the lower octave, a greater sonorousness, and a perfect accuracy of intonation, by establishing the more exact proportions which a column of air of cylindrical form permitted.

The priority of Boehm's invention was long contested, his detractors maintaining that the honour of having reconstructed the flute was due to Gordon. But an impartial investigation vindicates the claim of the former to the invention of the large lateral holes.[52] His greatest title to fame is the invention of the mechanism which allows the production of the eleven chromatic semitones intermediate between the fundamental note and its first harmonic by means of eleven holes so disposed that in opening them successively they shorten the column of air in exact proportional quantities.[53] Boehm (_Essays_, &c.) published a diagram or scheme to be adopted in determining the position of the note-holes of wind instruments for every given pitch. This diagram gives the position of the intermediate holes which he had been enabled to establish by a rule of proportion based on the law of the lengths of strings.

The Boehm flute, notwithstanding the high degree of perfection it has reached, has not secured unanimous favour; even now there are players who prefer the ordinary flute. The change of fingering required for some notes, the great delicacy and liability to derangement of the mechanism, have something to do with this. In England especially, the ordinary flute retains many partisans, thanks to the improvements introduced by a clever player, Abel Siccama, in 1845 (Patent No. 10,553). He bored the lateral holes of E and A lower, and covered them with open keys. He added some keys, and made a better disposition of the other lateral holes, of which he increased the diameter, producing thus a sonorousness almost equal to that of the Boehm flute, while yet preserving the old fingering for the notes of the first two octaves. But in spite of these improvements the old flute will not bear an impartial comparison with that of Boehm.

A flute constructed on a radically new system by Signor Carlo Tommaso Georgi and introduced in 1896 places the technique of the instrument on an entirely new and simple basis. The principal features of this flute consist in an embouchure placed at the upper extremity of the tube instead of at the side, which allows the instrument to be held in a perpendicular position; no tuning cork is required. There are eleven holes mathematically placed in the tube which give the semitones of the scale; there are no keys. The eleven holes are fingered by the fingers and thumbs, the C[sharp] hole being closed by the side of the left fore-finger. All the notes are obtained by means of simple fingering as far as G[sharp] of the third octave, the remaining notes of which are produced by cross-fingering. For the convenience of players with short fingers keys can be added, and the head of the Georgi flute can be used with any cylinder flute. The compass of the Georgi flute [notes] is almost the same as that of the concert flute; viz. If the lower C and C[sharp] are required, extra holes and keys can be added. Everything that is possible on the Boehm flute is possible on the Georgi and more, owing to the simplicity of the fingering; each finger having but one duty to perform, all trills are equally easy. The tone is the true flute tone, brilliant and sympathetic.[54]

The old English _fipple flute_, or _flute a bec_, is described under the headings RECORDER and FLAGEOLET. (V. M.; K. S.)

2. In architecture the name "flute" is given to the vertical channels (segmental, semicircular or elliptical in horizontal section) employed on the shafts of columns in the classic styles. The flutes are separated one from the other by an "arris" in the Doric order and by a "fillet" in the Ionic and Corinthian orders. The earliest fluted columns are those in Egypt, at first with plain faces without any sinking, subsequently at Karnac (1400 B.C.) with a segmental sinking equal in depth to about one-seventh of the width of the flute. The columns flanking one of the "beehive" tombs at Mycenae have segmental flutes and are the earliest Greek examples. In two of the earliest Doric temples at Metapontum and Syracuse (temple of Apollo) the flutes are also segmental, but in later examples in order to emphasize the arris they were formed of three arcs and are known as "false ellipses," and this applies to nearly all the fluting in Greek examples whether belonging to the Doric, Ionic or Corinthian orders. The number of flutes varies, there being 52 in the archaic temple of Diana at Ephesus and from 30 to 52 flutes in the Persian columns according to the diameter of the column. In the Greek Doric column 20 is the usual number, but there are 16 only in the temples of Sunium, Assos, Segesta and the temple of Apollo at Syracuse; 18 in one of the temples of Selinus and the temple of Diana at Syracuse, and 24 in the temple of Neptune at Paestum. The depth of the flute also varies; in the Propylaea at Athens the radius is equal to the width of the flute and the flute is segmental. In the Parthenon the radius of the central part of the flute is greater than the width, but the smaller arcs on either side accentuate better the arris. A similar accentuation is found in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, where the flutes are separated by fillets, and their section is always elliptical in Greek work, the depth of the flute, however, being always greater than in the Doric order. Thus, in the temple of Ilissus and the Ionic column in the cella of the temple at Bassae, the depth is about one-quarter of the width, in the Propylaea at Priene it is about one-third, and in the Erechtheum and other examples of the Greek Ionic order it is little more than one-half. The width of the fillet also varies, being as a rule one quarter of the width of the flute; and the same applies to the Greek Corinthian order. In the Roman Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, the flute is either segmental or semicircular, its depth being about one third of the width in the Doric column, and in all Ionic, Corinthian and Composite columns half the width of the flute. The fillet also is much broader in Roman examples, being about one-third of the width of the flute. In Roman columns sometimes the flutes of the lower part of the shaft, about one-third of the height, are partly filled with a convex moulding, "cabling" being the usual term applied to this treatment. The French architects of the 16th and 17th centuries carried this decorative feature much farther, and in the Tuileries and the Louvre carved a series of leaves in the flutes. In a few Italian buildings, instead of the fluting of the column being vertical, it twines round the column and is known as spiral fluting; a fine example is found in the Bevilacqua palace at Verona by San Michele. Fluting is sometimes introduced into capitals, as in the tomb of Mylasa, and in friezes, as in the theatre at Cnidos, the Incantada at Salonica, and a doorway at Patara. In one of the museums at Rome is a fine sarcophagus, the sides of which are sculptured with flutes in waved lines. The coronas of many of the Roman temples were carved with flutes. In medieval buildings, fluting was occasionally introduced in imitation of Roman work, as in the churches of central Syria and of Autun and Langres in France, but in the south of Italy and Sicily it would seem to have been brought in as a variety of treatment, in the decoration of the shafts carrying the arches of cloisters, as at Monreale in Sicily and in those of St John Lateran and St Paul-outside-the-Walls at Rome. (R. P. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See E.F.F. Chladni, _Die Akustik_ (Leipzig, 1802), p. 87.

[2] See Sonreck, "Uber die Schwingungserregung und die Bewegung der Luftsaule in offenen und gedeckten Rohren," _Pogg. Ann._, 1876, vol. 158.

[3] _The Flute_ (London, 1890), S 90-105, pp. 34-40.

[4] _Theorie der Luftschwingungen in Rohren mit offenen Enden_ (Berlin, 1896). Ostwald's _Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften_, No. 80.

[5] V.C. Mahillon, _Experimental Studies on the Resonance of Trunco-Conical and Cylindrical Air Columns_, translated by F.A. Mahan (London, 1901); D.J. Blaikley, _Acoustics in Relation to Wind Instruments_ (London, 1890); Friedrich Zamminer, _Die Musik und die musikalischen Instrumente, &c._ (Giessen, 1855); _idem._ "Sur le mouvement vibratoire de l'air dans les tuyaux," _Comptes rendus_, 1855, vol. 41, &c.

[6] _Op. cit._, S 73, pp. 87-88, note 1.

[7] "Akustik der Blasinstrumente," _Allgem. musikal. Zeit._ (Leipzig, 1816), Bd. xviii. No. 5, p. 65 et seq. See also Ernst Euting, _Zur Geschichte der Blasinstrumente im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert_. Inaugural Dissertation, Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitat. (Berlin, 15th of March 1899), p. 9.

[8] _Lehre von der Tonempfindung_ (Braunschweig, 1877).

[9] See additions by D. J. B. to article "Flute" in Grove's _Dictionary of Music and Musicians_ (London, 1904).

[10] _Musica instrumentalis deutsch_ (Wittenberg, 1528).

[11] See also L'Artusi, _Delle imperfettioni della musica moderna_ (Venice, 1600), p. 4; Gottfried Weber in Cacilia, Bd. ix. p. 99.

[12] See "Les Anciennes Flutes egyptiennes," by Victor Loret in _Journal asiatique_ (Paris, 1889), vol. xiv. p. 133 et seq., two careful articles based on the ancient Egyptian instruments still extant. See also Lauth, "Uber die agyptische Instrumente," _Sitzungs. der philos., philolog. und histor. Klasse. der Kgl. bayer. Akad. zu Munchen_ (1873).

[13] See Albert A. Howard, "The Aulos or Tibia," _Harvard Studies_, iv. (Boston, 1893), pp. 16-17.

[14] Representations of flutes blown as here described have been found in Europe. See _Comptes rendus de la commission imperiale archeologique_ (St Petersburg, 1867), p. 45, and atlas for the same date, pl. vi. Pompeian painting given by Helbig, _Wandgemalde_, No. 7607; Zahn, vol. iii. pl. 31; Museo Borbonnico, pl. xv. No. 18; Clarac, pl. 130, 131, 139; Heuzey, _Les Figurines_, p. 136.

[15] There are two flutes at the British Museum (Catal. No. 84, 4-9 and 5 and 6), belonging to the Castellani collection, made of wood encased in bronze in which the mouthpiece, consisting of the head of a maenad, has a lateral hole bored obliquely into the main tube. This hole was probably intended for the reception of a reed. The pipe is stopped at the end beyond the mouthpiece as in the modern flute. There are six holes. See also the plagiaulos from Halicarnassus in the British Museum described by C.T. Newton in _History of Discoveries at Halicarnassus_ (London), vol. ii. p. 339. The Louvre has two ancient statues (from the villa Borghese) representing satyrs playing upon transverse flutes. Unfortunately these marbles have been restored, especially in the details affecting our present subject, and are therefore examples of no value to us. Another statue representing a flute-player occurs in the British Museum. The instrument has been supposed to be a transverse flute, but erroneously, for the insufflation of the lateral tube against which the instrumentalist presses his lips, could not, without the intervention of a reed, excite the vibratory movement of the column of air.

[16] Florence, Carrand Collection. See Museo Nazionale Firenze, _Catalogo_ (1898), p. 205, No. 26 (description only). Illustration in _Gallerie nazionali italiane_, A. Venturi, vol. iii. (1897), p. 263, L'Arte (Rome, 1894), vol. i. p. 24, Hans Graeven, "Antike Vorlagen byzantinischer Elfenbeinreliefs," in _Jahrb. d. K. Preuss. Kunst-Sammlungen_ (Berlin, 1897), Bd. xviii. p. 11; Hans Graeven, "Ein Reliquienkastchen aus Pirano," id., 1899, Bd. xx. fig. 2 and pl. iii.

[17] Greek MS. 510, Gregoir de Nazance 10th century, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; illustration in Gustave L. Schlumberger, _L'Epopee byzantine a la fin du dizieme siecle_ (Paris, 1896 and 1900), vol. i. p. 503. British Museum, Greek Psalter, add. MS. 19352, fol. 189b. written and illuminated cir. 1066 by Theodorus of Caesarea. A cylindrical flute is shown turned to the right, the left hand being uppermost. Smyrna, Library of the Evaggelike Schole B. 18, fol. 72a, A.D. 1100, illustration by Strzygowski, "Der Bilderkreis des griechischen Physiologus," in _Byzantinisches Archiv_ (Leipzig, 1899), Heft 2, Taf. xi.; N.P. Kondakoff, _Histoire de l'art byzantin_ (Paris, 1886 and 1891), pl. xii. 5; "Kuseyr' Amra," issued by _K. Akad. d. Wissenschaften_ (Vienna, 1907), vol. ii. pl. xxxiv.

[18] A fine volume containing coloured drawings of these frescoes has been published in St Petersburg (British Museum library catalogue, sect. "Academies," St Petersburg, 1874-1887, vol. iv. Tab. 1325a).

[19] This manuscript, written towards the end of the 12th century, was preserved in the Strassburg library until 1870, when it was burnt during the bombardment of the city. See the fine reproduction in facsimile published by the _Soc. pour la conservation des monuments historiques d'Alsace_. Texte explicatif de A. Straub and G. Keller (Strassburg, 1901), pl. lvii., also C.M. Engelhardt, _Herrad von Landsperg und ihr Werk_ (Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1818), twelve plates.

[20] MS. j. b. 2. Illustrated in _Critical and Bibliographical Notes on Early Spanish Music_ (London, 1887), p. 119.

[21] _Musica getutscht und auszgezogen_ (Basel, 1511).

[22] _Organographia_ (Wolfenbuttel. 1618), pp. 24, 25, 40.

[23] _Harmonie universelle_ (Paris, 1636), _Livre_ v. p. 241.

[24] Principes de la flute traversiere ou flute d'Allemagne, de la flute a bec et du hautbois (Paris, 1722), p. 38.

[25] _Musicus [Greek: autodidaktos] oder der sich selbst informirende Musicus_ (Erfurt, 1738), p. 85.

[26] Fetis, _Rapport sur la fabrication des instruments de musique a l'Exposition Universelle de Paris, en 1855_.

[27] See _Recueil de planches_, vol. iv., and article "Basse de flute traversiere," vol. ii. (Paris, 1751). See also _The Flute_, by R.S. Rockstro (London, 1890), p. 238, where the wood cut is reproduced together with a translation of the article. The Museum of the Conservatoire in Paris also possesses a bass flute by the noted French maker Delusse.

[28] _Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen_ (Berlin, 1752).

[29] Unless the contrary is stated, we have always in view, in describing the successive improvements of the flute, the treble flute in D, which is considered to be typical of the family.

[30] "Herrn Johann Joachim Quantzens-Lebenslauf, von ihm selbst entworfen," in the _Historisch-Kritische Beytrage zur Aufnahme der Musik_, by Marpurg (Berlin, 1754), p. 239. Quantz was professor of the flute to Frederick the Great.

[31] See Johann Georg Tromlitz, _Ausfuhrlicher und grundlicher Unterricht die Flote zu spielen_ (Leipzig, 1791), 1, S 7, and _Uber Floten mit mehrern Klappen_ (Leipzig, 1800), cap. vii. S 21.

[32] Antonio Lorenzoni, _Saggio per ben sonare il flauto traverso_ (Vicenza, 1779).

[33] See _Anweisung_, i. S 15.

[34] See _Lebenslauf_, _loc. cit._ p. 248, where Quantz states that he invented the adjustable head for the flute.

[35] See _Anweisung_, i. SS 10-13 and iv. S 26.

[36] _Ausfuhrlicher und grundlicher Unterricht die Flote zu spielen_ (Leipzig, 1791), i. cap. S 20. Compare Schilling, _Univ.-Lexikon_ (Leipzig, 1835).

[37] Stendal, 1782 (published under his initials only, J. J. H. R., see p. 2).

[38] _Kurze Abhandlung von Flotenspielen_ (Leipzig, 1786), p. 27.

[39] _Uber Floten_, &c., pp. 133 and 134.

[40] See _The Flute_, pp. 242-244 and 561 and 562.

[41] See op. cit. pp. 51 and 62.

[42] English patent, No. 1499.

[43] See Rockstro, op. cit. p. 197.

[44] _Saggio per costruire e suonare un flauto traverso enarmonico che ha i suoni bassi del violino_ (Rome, 1797).

[45] The idea of this large flute was taken up again in 1819 by Trexler of Vienna, who called it the "panaulon."

[46] Patent, No. 3183. Part of the specification together with a diagram is reproduced by Rockstro, op. cit. pp. 273-274.

[47] Patent, No. 3349. Part of the specification together with a diagram is reproduced by Rockstro, op. cit. pp. 273-274.

[48] Another specimen, almost the same, constructed about 1775, and called "Basse de Musette," may be seen in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire.

[49] See account of Capeller's inventions by Carl Maria von Weber in _Allgem. musikal. Zeit._ (Leipzig, 1811), pp. 377-379, a translation of which is given by Rockstro, op. cit. pp. 279 and 280.

[50] See _Uber den Flotenbau und die neuesten Verbesserungen desselben_ (Mainz, 1847); and W.S. Broadwood, _An Essay on the Construction of Flutes originally written by Theobald Boehm, published with the addition of Correspondence and other Documents_ (London, 1882).

[51] _Examen critique de la flute ordinaire comparee a la flute Boehm_ (Paris, 1838).

[52] They existed long before, however, in the Chinese _Ty_ and the Japanese _Fuye_.

[53] The reader may consult with advantage Mr C. Welch's _History of the Boehm Flute_ (London, 1883), wherein all the documents relating to this interesting discussion have been collected with great impartiality.

[54] For further details see Kathleen Schlesinger, _The Instruments of the Orchestra_, part i. pp. 192-194, where an illustration is given, and Paul Wetzger, _Die Flote_ (Heilbronn, 1906), pp. 23-24, and Tafel iv. No. 20.

FLUX (Lat. _fluxus_, a flowing; this being also the meaning of the English term in medicine, &c.), in metallurgy, a substance introduced in the smelting of ores to promote fluidity, and to remove objectionable impurities in the form of a slag. The substances in commonest use are:--lime or limestone, to slag off silica and silicates, fluor-spar for lead, calcium and barium sulphates and calcium phosphate, and silica for removing basic substances such as limestone. Other substances are also used, but more commonly in assaying than in metallurgy. Sodium and potassium carbonates are valuable for fluxing off silica; mixed with potassium nitrate sodium carbonate forms a valuable oxidizing fusion mixture; "black flux" is a reducing flux composed of finely divided carbon and potassium carbonate, and formed by deflagrating a mixture of argol with 1/4 to 1/2 its weight of nitre. Borax is very frequently employed; it melts to a clear liquid and dissolves silica and many metallic oxides. Potassium bisulphate is useful in the preliminary treatment of refractory aluminous ores. Litharge and red lead are used in silver and gold assays, acting as solvents for silica and any metallic oxides present.