When where and who invented the flute

This instrument with it's wonderful music is still around. Even though it is not the same as the first one, we still use it the same way. When was the flute invented? The flute didn't always look the way it does now, it used to be made out of wood.

In the first modern flute was made. Where was the flute created? The first flute was made in Germany in These instruments were extremely simple in construction, consisting of a cylindrical tube with a cork stopper in one end, a blow hole and six finger holes. Their range was limited, as they were constructed in different sizes in order to handle the complete range of the music being performed.

It is the middle-sized instrument of this group pitched in "D" that is the direct ancestor of our modern concert flute. This instrument went out of favor during the first half of the 17th century because it could not compete in playing the new expressive style which the violin had made popular. Woodwind makers responded to this challenge by making many improvements to the flute during the second half of the 17th century.

Their new developments included the following changes from the 17th century flute:. By , the body was divided into two parts and extra joints of differing lengths, called corps de recharge, allowed the performer to shift the pitch of the instrument in order to be in tune with different orchestras.

However, because of the cross-fingerings, these flutes sounded best in keys of D- and G-Major. While there were many amateur performers of the time who played the flute poorly out of tune , the professional performers of the time mastered these challenges extremely well. The treatises by Quantz and Tromlitz included a variety of fingerings for each note on the instrument which reflected very subtle changes of pitch.

In spite of exceptional performers, flutemakers were very concerned about adding keys to eliminate the cross-fingerings of chromatic notes. By , G-sharp, B-flat and F keys were added by flutemakers in London. By , these instruments were appearing in instrumental music of Mozart and Hayden. In addition, flute makers extended the range of the instrument downward by adding low C and C-sharp keys to the foot joint just like today's modern flute.

By the end of the 18th century, two more keys were introduced which resulted in the 8-keyed flute. This instrument formed the basis of most "simple system" flutes which are still being played today in various Celtic ensembles. Boehm's mechanism was applied with varying degrees of success to other woodwind instruments. He was also responsible for a variety of innovations in the manufacture of music boxes and the construction of pianos, a sparkproof locomotive chimney, and a telescope for locating fires.

A page on the Boehm flute describes Boehm's instruments and modifications made by others in a bit more detail. Theobald Boehm Theobald Boehm, a Bavarian goldsmith, flutist, composer, and industrialist, invented the type of flute that became the basis for the modern instrument a little more than a century and a half ago.