Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 44
Scan 44
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1that it was soon generally adopted, excepting for military fifes; these, until recently, were made entirely cylindrical; hence, for the sake of distinction, the term "flute" came to be applied to transverse flutes of all sizes, with bore wholly or partly conoidal, while the smaller cylindrical instruments of the same genus were, and are, designated "fifes." The true fife is, however, almost obsolete, the instruments used in the so-called "drum and fife bands" being flutes of various sizes, with the bore usually described as "conical."
3In the year 1847 an important change was made in the bore of the flute by the late Theobald Boehm of Munich. This change almost amounted to a complete reversal of the proportions which had been adopted for the previous century and a half, the head-joint being reduced in diameter at the upper part, while for the lower part, or "body," of the flute the original cylindrical shape was restored. The "cylinder flute with parabola head," the name by which such instruments are generally known, possesses, under certain circumstances, a most decided and indisputable preponderance of advantages over the "conical flute," and it has become deservedly popular in England, France and America; it is, however, but little esteemed in Germany.
5One of the most interesting facts relating to the history of musical instruments is the almost complete immunity from change which has been maintained in the diameter of the cylindrical part of the bore of the "concert-flute," that is, the flute which gives the notes as they are written and fingered. The earliest, and the smallest, recorded measurement of the bore of this instrument, that given by Mersenne (Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636-7), is .71 inch, and there is no reason to believe that the diameter of the cylinder has ever exceeded .75 inch. The largest part of the bore of a concert-flute of the latest pattern has a diameter of 19 millimetres, .748 inch.
7The primitive flutes were provided with six "finger-holes" only: these, being covered or uncovered successively, gave a descending or ascending diatonic scale of an octave, less one note, the open end of the flute giving the key-note. The second series of notes was formed, as at present, by the harmonic-octaves of the first series; the third, or as much of it as was possible, by the higher harmonics, assisted in their production by the opening of certain finger-holes as "vent-holes." The holes of the flutes of the sixteenth century were exceedingly small.
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