Peter Bloom: Living History Flutist
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November 2008 PETER BLOOM: LIVING HISTORY FLUTIST Interview by Andrew Sterman ANDREW STERMAN: How did you come to be giving this unique recital here? eter Bloom, the Boston flutist special- PETER BLOOM: Last year I did a lot of izing in performing on his large consulting for the Boston Museum of Fine Pcollection of early American-made Arts, on their instrument collection, flutes, will be bringing some highlights and I did a lecture on the flutes of Alfred of his flute collection to the NYFC this Badger. Somehow the word got out that November for a concert of music from (Cont’d on page 4) 19th-century New York. His recital will include a selection of music that appeared IN THIS ISSUE in New York City on concert programs of the day, anecdotes about the virtuoso Peter Bloom: Living History Flutist by Andrew Sterman...................................1 flutists who performed those concerts, and performances of the pieces on a wide vari- From the President: The Flute in Gotham ety of flutes, all made in or near NY during by Nancy Toff............................................2 the same time. Though I am a collector myself, I have never known much about Member Profile: Karen Demsey....................3 the flute makers or early players of NY. This Alexa Still Masterclass Report........................7 interview, conducted by phone, gave me an introduction to both, as well as to the Anouncements very charming and erudite Peter Bloom Flute Happenings .........................................3 himself. Ensembles Program Update..........................7 Classified........................................................7 In Concert Peter Bloom, Flute The Flute in 19th Century New York Sunday, November 23, 2008, 5:30 pm Yamaha Piano Salon, 689 Fifth Avenue (entrance on 54th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues) The Ante-Bellum Years (conical flutes) Variations on a Favorite Air F. Egan (fl. c. 1820-1840) Waltzes for the Flute “To the Amateurs of New York” J. L. Downe (fl. c. 1825-1850) Concertino, Op. 100, c. 1840 Anton Bernard Fürstenau (1792-1852) Salute to New York “A Song for the Flute” Louis Drouet Jr. (1792-1873) Studies on Taste and Style Composed Expressly for the Boehm Flute “To Philip Ernst” Louis Drouet Jr. The Post-Bellum Years (cylinder flutes) Danse des Moucherons “December 25, 1873 To Henry Clay Wysham” Sidney Lanier (1842-1881) Wind-Song Sidney Lanier Il Balen: Air and Variation (1876; air from Verdi’s Il Trovatore of 1853) Sidney Lanier Etude in B Major (from 24 Studies dedicated to Heinrich Gantenberg) William Schade (1850-1930) Nocturne William Schade/P.H. Bloom Program subject to change Mr. Bloom will play the entire program on historical flutes by the New York makers Alfred G. Badger, Gustave Behrle, James W. Hoey, Allen R.Jollie, William R. Meinell, Charles Monzani, and Edward Riley. He will be glad to show the instruments to interested audience members after the concert. 2-- NYFC Newletter The Flute in Gotham by Nancy Toff or many flutists, as for other musicians, NY has been the THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC. place to aspire to, what E. B. White memorably called F“the city of final destination, the city that is a goal.” It 2008–2009 was the immigrants to the city, White said, who accounted for NY’s “high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its Board of Directors dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements.”* Nancy Toff, President Yet proud as we are of the level of flute playing in our city, David Wechsler, First Vice President most of us do not think of NY as a magnet for instrument Ardith Bondi, Second Vice President makers. Since the early 20th century, Boston has been the Jeanne Wilson, Recording Secretary From the mecca of professional-grade flutemaking in this country, and Keith Bonner, Membership Secretary James N. Blair Treasurer President Elkhart, Indiana, the principal locus for manufacturers of stu- dent instruments. But in the 19th century, as Peter Bloom’s Susan Friedlander Karla Moe November concert will demonstrate, NY was a major center of Svjetlana Kabalin Fred Marcusa American flute making as well as of concert life. Nneka Landrum Seth Rosenthal We know that the flute was played in NY from colonial days, first by amateurs, Susan Lurie Rie Schmidt and by the mid-17th century by professionals as well. By 1800, some fifty musicians Stefani Starin in NY were able to eke out a living through some combination of teaching, selling Advisory Board music, and playing in theater orchestras and subscription concerts. An increasing Jeanne Baxtresser Marya Martin number emigrated from Europe; some time after 1830, Philip Ernst, for example, left Harold Jones Michael Parloff Germany to settle in NY, where he was one of the first flutists to adopt the Boehm Robert Langevin Jayn Rosenfeld system. The French flutist Louis Drouet met Ernst during a concert tour to NY in Gerardo Levy 1854, and the next year dedicated a set of etudes to him. John Kyle, Ernst’s colleague in the first incarnation of the NY Philharmonic (1842), was the first successful Amer- Past Presidents ican-born flutist. The late 19th century saw the rise of William Schade, an American, Georges Barrère .................... 1920– 1944 and one of the great flutists in the German tradition, Carl Wehner, a Boehm student John Wummer ........................ 1944– 1947 Milton Wittgenstein ............. 1947– 1952 whom Theodore Thomas invited to NY to become first flute of the Philharmonic in Mildred Hunt Wummer ........ 1952– 1955 1886. Frederick Wilkins .................. 1955– 1957 The flute dealers and makers who served this increasingly demanding clientele Harry H. Moskovitz ............... 1957– 1960 followed much the same pattern: The 1760s and ‘70s saw the arrival in NY of profes- Paige Brook ............................ 1960– 1963 sionally trained European instrument makers, among them Gottlieb Wolhaupter, the Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963– 1964 Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964– 1967 first flute maker documented in the United States. In 1783, John Jacob Astor arrived Harry H. Moskovitz .............. 1967– 1970 in the U.S. with a consignment of seven flutes from his brother George, the London Paige Brook ........................... 1970– 1973 flutemaker; he turned his instrument business over to colleagues when he found Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1973– 1976 the fur business more profitable. After the revolution, other Europeans immigrated Harold Jones ......................... 1976– 1979 to escape restrictive trade guilds and expand their businesses. Tyically, the shops Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1979– 1982 Paige Brook ........................... 1982– 1983 were owned by master craftsmen who employed family members and one or more John Solum ............................ 1983– 1986 journeymen or apprentices. As NY-made instruments improved in quality in the early Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1986– 1989 19th century, imports declined. Sue Ann Kahn ....................... 1989– 1992 The founding fathers of the American flutemaking industry, George Catlin of Nancy Toff ............................. 1992– 1995 Hartford and Edward Riley Sr. of NY, spawned a veritable dynasty of flute craftsmen, Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995– 1998 Patricia Spencer ..................... 1998– 2001 among them John Meacham and Sylvanus Pond, who first worked for Catlin and later Jan Vinci................................... 2001– 2002 moved their business to NY. Another Catlin descendant, Asa Hopkins, was one of Jayn Rosenfeld ....................... 2002– 2005 several makers who set up shop in Litchfield, Connecticut (also known as Fluteville). David Wechsler...................... 2005–2008 Riley came to NY from London about 1805; two of his workmen, John Firth and Wil- Newsletter liam Hall, each married the boss’s daughters. Ultimately these men came together to Katherine Saenger, Editor form the NY firm of Firth, Hall & Pond, which in turn bought out some of the Litch- 115 Underhill Road field shops and lasted until 1847, becoming one of the largest music merchandisers Ossining, NY 10562 in the United States. 914-762-8582 The Boehm flute arrived in NY around 1845 and was adopted by both Philip [email protected] Ernst and John Kyle. It was through Kyle’s patronage that the Connecticut-born Lauren Zavlunov, Designer Alfred G. Badger, a Catlin “grandson,” began manufacturing the Boehm flute here. 1108 Quail Ridge Drive More German makers came after that, among them William R. Meinell, who worked Plainsboro, NJ 08536 in the heavily-German Yorkville neighborhood (and made flute collector Dayton C. 516-317-2413 Miller’s first flute), and Arthur Gemeinhardt, who began on 10th Street in 1905 and [email protected] soon moved to Yorkville as well. (For those who are interested, several of us are working on a detailed genealogy of American flute makers.) www.nyfluteclub.org Peter Bloom’s program reflects the symbiotic relationships between these early NY performers and flute makers. His concert illustrates the salutary results of histori- Copyright © 2008 by The New York Flute Club Inc., cal curiosity, instrument collecting, and musicological sleuthing—not to mention fine unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. musicianship. This is historically informed performance at its best. * This is New York, 1949. November 2008-- 3 FLUTE Degree(s): BM in performance (Uni- HAPPENINGS Member versity of Maine, 1977), MM in music education (Eastman School of Music, FREE to current NYFC members, this section