The Story of the Flute/Chapter 4

by Henry Macaulay Fitzgibbon

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CHAPTER IV.

Böhm and Gordon.

Biographical—Revolution in the flute—Gordon—His flutes—Böhm—His flutes of 1831, 1832, and 1847—His publications—As a player—His compositions—Böhm's centenary—The controversy—Priority of inventions—Coche's attack Clinton's views—Revival of the controversy—Rockstro's attack—Summary.

We now have reached the most momentous stage in the history of the modern flute—the period when the instrument underwent practically a complete revolution, which changed it from being very imperfectRevolution
in the
Flute and unsatisfactory into the most perfect of all wind instruments. The question of the origin of the Böhm system, that "most happy of all the more modern improvements made in orchestral instruments," has given rise to one of the bitterest and most prolonged controversies that has ever disturbed the harmony of the musical world. To this day flute-players are divided as to the rival claims of Böhm and Gordon, and it is not likely that the questions raised will ever be quite fully and satisfactorily answered. But the majority of flautists are now agreed that the Böhm flute is rightly so named. I shall endeavour to give a concise and impartial statement of the main facts without entering into minute technical details, referring those of my readers who desire further information to Mr. Charles Welch's exhaustive treatise on the subject.

Nothing is known of Gordon's early life. It is not even certain whether his Christian name, whatever it was, began with a W (probably William) or a J. He was a Swiss by birth, though his surname points to an English or Scottish origin, and held a commission as captain in the Swiss Guards of Charles X. He was passionately fond of music, to which he devoted all his spare time; and as his regiment was quartered in Paris, he took lessons from Drouet and also from Tulou (the latter, by the way, does not seem to have attached any importance to Gordon's inventions, and describes the tone of his flute as "thin"). He would appear to have been a very good amateur flautist, and a modest, kind-hearted, and ingenious gentleman, possessed of little or no mechanical skill or training, and having no special knowledge of acoustics.

In 1826 Gordon tried to improve the flute by developing the open-keyed system, and he had several flutesGordon made under his direction by French workmen and by a Swiss watchmaker. What the changes he introduced were is not now known precisely, but his widow stated in 1838 that he aimed at perfect accuracy of intonation, combined with easier execution and a more extended compass. Charles X. lost his throne by the Revolution of 1830, and on July 29th Gordon's regiment, which was guarding the Louvre, was seized with a panic; some escaped through a door into the Place du Carrousel; those who remained were cut to pieces by the mob, who stripped the bodies naked and adorned themselves with fragments of the uniforms and helmets torn from the dead soldiers. This dreadful scene, combined with the subsequent loss of his fortune and position, affected Gordon's mind, and he seems never to have recovered from its effects. In his distress he "conceived the idea of turning this new flute to account in order to re-establish himself by performing on it in the principal towns of Europe; then he intended to patent his invention, and to establish manufactories and introduce this beautiful instrument to the musical world." Accordingly in 1831 he visited London, where flutes were made for him by Rudall & Rose, and also by Cornelius Ward. The latter, though a partisan of Gordon's claims, says that he "was considered to be of unsound mind. . . . He was generally treated with consideration on that account, but very little attention was paid to his flute-mania, such being the light in which his views respecting the flute were regarded." Böhm happened to be in London at the same time, also at work on improving the flute; Gordon made his acquaintance, and they showed each other their respective attempts. Böhm tells us that he considered Gordon's flute very different in its construction from other flutes, that it had a ring and crescent key, and that the keys and levers were ingeniously conceived, but too complicated ever to be of much advantage; moreover, it was made in defiance of the principles of acoustics, and was out of tune.^[1] Böhm's new flute appeared in 1832. Early in 1833 Gordon went toGordon's
Flutes Munich specially to obtain the assistance of one of Böhm's most skilful workmen, whose services, as well as a private workshop, were generously placed at his disposal by Böhm, who himself was in London at the time. In July 1833 Gordon wrote to Mercier in Paris, sending him copies of a prospectus of a new flute which he had made in Munich, after destroying several previous attempts by continual alterations (Page 51, Figs, 1 and 2). This prospectus was also circulated in Germany and in London. Gordon in his scale for this flute, published in 1834, himself states that it contained two of Böhm's keys (F♯ and D shake) by Böhm's express permission. Gordon again visited London, but his new flute failed to attract public attention; and, as his widow says, being very shy, without introductions or knowledge of the world, his pecuniary resources were exhausted, and he returned ill and disheartened to

Gordon's and Böhm's Flutes.

from left to right:

Fig. 1—Gordon's Flute (from Coche's "Methode," 1839.)

Fig. 2—Gordon's Flute (from Clinton's "Flute School," 1846.)

Fig. 3—Böhm's Eight-Keyed Flute of 1829.

Fig. 4—Böhm's model of 1831.

Fig. 5—Böhm's model of 1832.

his family at Lausanne, probably at the end of 1835. He there continued his endeavours to improve his flute. In the course of one of these attempts the tube over which he had spent so many hours cracked, and in a fit of despair he threw it into the Lake of Geneva. Though much cast down, he set to work on another, but before it was finished he had to abandon it, owing to his intellect giving way. In 1836 he became absolutely insane, and had to be put into an asylum, where (with the exception of a brief interval in 1839) he remained till his death, the exact date of which is unknown. He is said by some authorities to have committed suicide, but of this there is no authentic evidence. Truly a sad end to an honourable man and an enthusiastic musician!

Let us now glance rapidly at the career of his rival. Theobald Böhm was born at Munich on April 9th,Böhm 1794, the son of a working jeweller and goldsmith. From an early age he displayed a penchant for the flute, and in 1810 he made himself a four-keyed flute. As he was originally intended to follow his father's occupation, he had already acquired considerable mechanical skill, which he subsequently largely developed. He took lessons on the flute from Johann Nepomuk Capeller, who was first flute in the King of Bavaria's Court orchestra and who had made some improvements on the flute. Bohm appears to have made rapid progress in the world; he soon became second flute in the Court orchestra, and was first flute in the Isargate Theatre in Munich from 1812-17, acting at the same time as an inspector of mines. Continuing his experiments on the flute, he in 1812 applied to it a new kind of spring for the keys, linings to the sockets, cork coverings to the joints, a moveable embouchure of gold, and other things; most, if not all, of which had been used before his time. In 1818 he was appointed to the King's Chapel band, and henceforth devoted himself entirely to music, studying under Joseph Graz. Having toured through Europe as a flautist along with Molique for several years, Böhm in October 1828 set up a flute factory in Munich, where he manufactured eight-keyed flutes with pillars to support the keys—a contrivance already used in France before 1756 (Page 51, Fig. 3). In 1831 he visited Paris and London, performing on one of these flutes, of which only a drawing now exists. He played his own Grand Polonaise in D (op. 16) at the London Philharmonic concert of May 9th, 1831, and performed solos at Moscheles' concert there in the same month, and at Hummel's concert in June. In London he had a flute made for him, with several new features, by Gerock & Wolf, of 79 Cornhill (Page 51, Fig. 4). It was during this visit that he made Gordon's acquaintance. Whilst there he heard the famous Charles Nicholson, and was greatly struck by his powerful tone, which Böhm attributed to the large size of the holes on Nicholson's flute. In one of his letters Böhm says that but for Nicholson he would never have attempted any radical change of system: he despaired of rivalling him except by means of an improved instrument. In order to accomplish this he determined to construct a totally new flute, "which should combine accuracy of intonation with power and equality of tone, and on which all music written within its compass could be executed by a new kind of key-mechanism." He decided to abandon the old fingering and to adopt a system of ring-keys, by means of which two or more notes could be closed by one movement of a single finger. That Böhm's views underwent a considerable change after he had seen Gordon's flute, and that this was also one of his reasons for abandoning attempts with the old fingering, is undeniable; but to what extent he was influenced by Gordon's rather clumsy efforts it is impossible to say with any precision.

Böhm returned from London to Munich some time in 1831, and set to work, choosing ("je me fixai au") the system of ring-keys—a system which he says he had already thought of. It is to be observed that ring-keys of a primitive kind were used in the earlier flutes of both Gordon and Böhm, and were certainly known, though little used, before either adopted them. Nolan used a ring-key in 1808 (as we have seen; p. 45, ante), and Lefevre, of Paris, used one on clarinets before 1826. Neither Gordon nor Böhm ever claimed to have inventedBöhm's
Flute of
1832 the ring-keys. But Böhm developed them and thus rendered the production of an entirely open-keyed flute possible. About the middle of 1832 he produced his new model (Page 51, Fig. 5), selected from three with different fingerings. He performed on it at a concert in Munich on November 1st, 1832, and again on April 25th, 1833. The instrument was described in an article in Der Bazar of the last-named date, which was reprinted in The Harmonicon of August 1833. In May 1833 Böhm visited Paris and London, and again came to London in July 1834, where he remained for nearly a year, and appeared in public on several occasions, playing "on his newly-constructed flute." At first it does not appear to have been largely taken up in England (chiefly, no doubt, owing to the disinclination of established players to learn the new fingering), but in 1839 Ward began to manufacture it, and Carte—who claimed to have been the first prominent English professor to play it in public—Card, Signor Folz, and Clinton adopted it. It was noticed in the Leipsic Gazette Musicale in 1834, and was taken up by several German and French players of note. In 1838 the French Academy of Fine Arts investigated its merits (as improved by Coche and Buffet), and it was introduced into the Paris Conservatoire.

After 1832 Böhm, who himself says he never placed a high value on his inventions, for a time abandoned his efforts to improve the flute, and turned his attention to other subjects. He evidently possessed an inventive genius, and amongst other things he invented the overstringing of pianofortes, an improved method of smelting iron, and also of communicating rotary motion.

Having studied acoustics under Schafhäutl, Professor of Mathematics in the Bavarian University, he in 1847 set to work to improve the bore of the flute, and after three hundred experiments (chiefly with metal tubes) on the proper positions of the holes, their size, the shape and position of the mouth-hole, the material ofBöhm's
Flute of
1847 the instrument, etc., he produced his cylinder flute with parabolic head-joint. He thus restored the old cylinder bore for the body of the instrument, but fitted it with a head-joint, the inside of which curved slightly at the closed end—a plan which he had already tried unsuccessfully thirty years before. To enter into the details of this very decided improvement would be out of place; suffice it to say that it greatly improved the tone and carrying power of the flute (especially of the lower notes), whilst making it easier to sound, and rendering the high notes better in tune. In this flute Böhm adopted certain improvements in the mechanism which had been already used by Coche; and as the holes were too large for the fingers to cover them, he fitted them all with keys. Bohm's newest system was at first violently opposed by Clinton (who went so far as to say that if the cylinder be right. Nature herself must be wrong) and others, but it is now, with certain modifications, universally adopted for all good modern flutes.

The new flutes were at first made of metal, but in 1848 MM. Godfroy and Lot, of Paris, began to manufacture them of cocoa wood at the suggestion of Dorus. Godfroy subsequently re-introduced keys perforated in the centre, such as Nolan and Pottgiesser had employed, by which some allege that the delicacy of intonation is increased. Messrs. Rudall & Rose obtained the patent for England in 1847. Böhm published an extremely technical geometrical schema, or diagram, "with explanation, by which makers of tubular instruments can with the greatest accuracy construct their instruments according to any of the recognised pitches," which so puzzled the musical jury at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 that they refused to decide on its merits. Böhm's system is also applicable to oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, and it has to a certain extent been adopted by certain makers of the two first-named instruments, more especially for French military clarinets, but not nearly to the same extent as on the flute.

The model of 1847 (Page 68, Fig. 2) was awarded the gold medal at the London Exhibition of 1851, the report of Sir Henry Bishop stating that "M. Böhm has acquired not only a perfection in tone and tuning never before attained, but also a facility in playing in those keys which were hitherto difficult and defective in sonorousness or intonation"; and another juror remarks, "One person brings forward a flute with a fine note E, another with some other fine note, but what we want is a flute with all the notes equally fine, and this we find only in the flutes on Böhm's principles." It also gained the gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. Though largely taken up in most European countries and in America, Germany, strange to relate, was one of the last countries to adopt it. In 1866 they still played the old eight-keyed flute in Berlin and Vienna. In fact, even to-day some German conductors object to a Böhm flute in their orchestras.

This was practically Böhm's last experiment in connection with the instrument, but he continued to manufactureBöhm's
Publica-
tions flutes along with Mendler. Böhm published several pamphlets on the instrument. One, entitled Ueher den Flötenhau, appeared in 1847; an abbreviated edition in English was published in 1882 under the title "An Essay on the Construction of Flutes." Another, on Die Flöte und das Flötenspiel, written in 1868, has recently been translated and published in English. These works show how deeply he had studied the scientific as well as the mechanical side of the subject.

As a player Böhm attained great celebrity in Germany, where he was considered the best flautist of his time,Böhm as a
Player and Fetis speaks of his brilliant execution of difficult passages and of his fine performance of slow movements. The London press spoke highly of his tone and style: "he strives to touch the heart rather than to astonish," said The Harmonicon. His compositions (the first, a concerto, dates from 1822) consist chiefly of airs varicées; those on The Swiss Boy (op. 20) and Du! Du! liegst mir am Herzen (op. 22) are still occasionally heard at concerts. The latter piece is said to have been composed by Böhm as an answer to critics, who asserted that his flute could only play in the key of C. Several were written specially to exhibit the merits of his improved system, and are well-nigh impossible on the old eight-keyed flute. He also wrote some original pieces of merit—such as his Andante in B major (op. 33) and Caprices (op. 26)— and some fine Studies. Böhm continued to play after he was seventy-eight years of age and had a set of false teeth; and though his sight was bad, he was erect in figure, and walked with a firm step up to the very end of his long and extremely temperate life (November 25th, 1881). He was a fine billiard and chess-player, even when he could hardly see the balls or the men.

On April 9th, 1894, all the members of the family then living near Munich assembled in the house in which Böhm was born, in order to celebrateBöhm's
Centenary the centenary of his birth, and countless letters and telegrams were sent from all over the world—a fitting tribute to an inventive genius of no mean order.

BÖHM-GORDON CONTROVERSY.

During their mutual acquaintance no controversy ever arose between Böhm and Gordon as to the priority of their inventions; they were always onPriority of
Inventions friendly terms, and Böhm always spoke and, wrote of his rival in words or praise, as "a gentleman in every respect." He appears to have tried to assist Gordon's efforts in every way. After all, there was not very much originality or invention in the key-mechanism of either of their flutes; both freely adopted the somewhat crude ideas and devices of previous workers in the same field, but it was Böhm who rendered them of practical value. The controversy was concerned chiefly with the keys, and was entirely confined to Bohm's model of 1832: it had nothing to do with the cylinder bore and parabolic head-joint. Now, it is not on his key-mechanism that Böhm's fame chiefly rests: "It is much easier" (as he himself says) "to construct keys than to improve notes." His real claim to the gratitude of all flute-players consists, as Mr. Broadwood remarks, "in his successful substitution of acoustic theory for mere empirical experiment" and in his ascertainment, by careful scientific investigation, of the correct position of the holes on the flute. Gordon no doubt also attempted this: but owing to his lack of acquaintance with acoustics, he failed; whilst Böhm, with his scientific and mechanical knowledge, succeeded.

No question was raised till 1838, when Gordon had already been for some time in a lunatic asylum. OnCoche's
Attack May 25th Coche, then Coadjutor-Professor of the Flute at the Paris Conservatoire, wrote thus to Böhm:—"It is said in professional society that the flute that bears your name was discovered and invented, with all its present improvements, by a person of the name of Gordon; that this Gordon, after devoting several years to experiments and labours, has given up, on account of illness, occupying himself with his flute; and that your discovery, in a word, is no other than his." Hinc illœ lacrymœ! Coche supported this very definite and malicious statement by a letter from Gordon's wife, who naturally espoused the claim made on behalt of her unfortunate husband. It is to be noted that Coche's rival, Camus, was a friend of Böhm and had acted as his agent in Paris, playing and teaching the Böhm flute. Böhm at once repudiated the charge. Notwithstanding this, Coche issued an Examen Critique de la flute ordinaire comparée à la flute de Böhm (originally written for the judges at the French Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Music Section, and dedicated to the members of the institution), in which he claimed the priority of invention for Gordon. In the following year Coche published his Méthode pour servir à l'enseignement de la Nouvelle Flute, inventée par Gordon, modifiée par Böhm et perfectionée par V. Coche et Buffet, jeune, dedicated to Cherubini, then Director of the Paris Conservatoire. We shall see in the next chapter what these "perfectings" of M. Coche were; meanwhile it will be noticed that he treats Böhm as a mere modifier of Gordon's inventions.

Coche's claim on behalf of Gordon was espoused in England in a pamphlet called The Flute Explained, by Ward (1844), who had made flutes for Gordon when in London, and also by Prowse, a London flute-maker, and the controversy was revived in The Musical World of 1843.^[2]

On the other hand, Clinton, a leading English flautist and Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, in the first English book of instructions for the Böhm flute—namely, A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Böhm Flute, as manufactured by Messrs. Rudall & Rose—evidently considered Böhm entitled to the credit of the invention. In his enthusiastic dedication of this work to Böhm, Clinton says:—

"When in after ages the future historian of the Flute, in tracing its progress from infancy to maturity, shall enumerate those whose talents and exertions have successfully contributed to its perfect development, your name will stand conspicuously prominent in the list. He will point, with peculiar satisfaction, to your achievements, and this our day will be characterised by him as the commencement of a new era in the history of the instrument. And when he shall contrast the capabilities of the Flute, in his time, with the recorded imperfections of that of former generations, the name of Böhm will be transmitted in grateful remembrance to posterity, as the originator of the wondrous and triumphant change. To whom, then, can I, with equal propriety, dedicate a work, the object of which is, to introduce to English Flute-players, this monument of your genius, already so fully appreciated by the great body of Continental Professors and amateurs?—Wishing you many years of health and happiness, in the enjoyment of that fame which is so justly your due, I have the honour to subscribe myself, your very obedient and faithful servant, J. Clinton. London, May, 1843."

He throughout speaks of Böhm as the inventor. His later School for the Böhm Flute (1846) was also dedicated to Böhm. After such decided expressions on the subject, it is somewhat startling to find Clinton, in his Practical Hints to Flute-players upon the subject of Modern Flutes (1855)—a work describing his own new "Equisonant" flute—attributing the invention to Gordon. A much stronger, though less oratorical, supporter of Böhm's claims, Mr. Richard Carte (1845), pointed out that Gordon would hardly have remained on such friendly terms with Böhm if the latter had robbed him of his invention in 1832. Fetis, the French musical historian (c. 1865), rather favoured Gordon.

Nothing further was heard about the matter till after Böhm's death. In several of the foreign obituary notices Gordon was again put forward asContro-
versy
Revived
on Böhm's
Death entitled to the credit of the invention, and in the London Figraro of December 28th, 1881, Gordon's madness was said to be due to "seeing the results of his own talent attributed to Bohm." To this article Mr. Walter Stewart Broadwood, an enthusiastic flautist and a personal friend of Bohm, replied in the same paper and also in the Musical World of January 1st, 1882; and Schafhäutl wrote a paper—a translation of which appeared in the Musical World of February 18th, 1882—strongly advocating Bohm's claims.

The controversy slept once more till 1890, when Mr. R. S. Rockstro, in his elaborate treatise The Flute, took up the cudgels for Gordon, and treated BöhmRockstro's
Attack as more or less an impostor. An able and conclusive reply to Rockstro was furnished by Mr. C. Welch in his History of the Böhm Flute, 3rd ed., 1896. Böhm's latest champion is Mr. H. Clay Wysham, an enthusiastic American flautist, in his little work The Evolution of the Böhm Flute.

Böhm nowhere states definitely that he obtained no hints from Gordon's flute, but in a letter of May 20th,Conclusion
of the
whole
matter 1878, he does say, "I never had used anything of M. Gordon, but he had to thank me for what I have done for him." On the other hand, Gordon himself never even hinted that Böhm had copied his flute in any respect; on the contrary he definitely states that he (Gordon) had adopted certain devices of Böhm's flute with Böhm's permission. The truth would appear to be that the same main ideas occurred to both men simultaneously, and that Böhm carried them out successfully, whilst Gordon failed to do so. Böhm's flute was practical and workable; Gordon's was unpractical and much too complicated to be workable.

When it is recollected that to Böhm alone are due the ascertainment of the correct acoustical positions for the holes and of the best bore for the tube; that with these—the vital part of the improvement—Gordon had nothing whatever to do, as he was either in a madhouse or more probably dead when they were ascertained; that, moreover, the mechanical key-action, to which alone the controversy relates, had all been foreshadowed by previous inventors—when these facts are borne in mind, the entire dispute fades into insignificance and becomes "a storm in a teacup." It is to be noticed that Gordon's partisans—Coche, Clinton, Ward, Rockstro—all produced rival flutes in Böhm's lifetime. Was it jealousy that caused their opposition to his claims?

1. Unfortunately no drawing exists of any flute made by Gordon before his meeting with Böhm. Coche's picture (Page 51, Fig. 1) is said by him to be a copy of a drawing in Gordon's early prospectus, and Ward says it closely resembles a flute he made for Gordon about 1831. It is entirely open-keyed. Clinton's picture (Page 51, Fig. 2) is probably a model of later date (? 1833), and Bohm, who also reproduces it in his pamphlet of 1847, says Gordon made it at Munich. Some of its keys were worked by means of cranks and wires (a device afterwards used on Ward's flutes). Notice the peculiar low C keys. Böhm's 1831 model (Page 51, Fig. 4) was almost certainly made before he had seen Gordon's flute. It greatly resembles the eight-keyed flute.
2. That this was not quite appreciated by the non-flute-playing subscribers to that journal is clear from the following amusing letter to the Editor:—

   THE BÖHM FLUTE.

   "I pray you, sir, to put a mute
   On all this noise 'bout Böhm's flute;
     Your powers arouse
     To muffle Prowse,
     Nor let old Card
     Contend with Ward,
   But quash at once the dull dispute."
   —Embouchure.