Double-wall silver flute – Agostino RAMPONE

Flutes

Here is an exciting instrument for flute collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. It is a double-wall silver flute made by the maestro Agostino RAMPONE (1843-1897) in Italy.

Double-wall metal wind instruments featured a hollow body with two tubes. This innovation was first patented in 1879 in Italy by Agostino Rampone who submitted a five-year patent for ‘Flutes and clarinets of all-metal construction’ [Flauti e clarini di costruzione intieramente metallica]. There was an external tube to which the keys were applied that reproduced the proportions and appearance of the wooden instrument. A second internal tube ensured the correct dimensions of the chamber. Then a small cylinder was added to each hole to connect the two tubes, creating an airtight chamber. Rampone would go on to use the same system for oboes and bassoons too.

These instruments became fashionable for use outside, especially for civil and military bands, as well as for regular, professional use. Unlike wooden instruments, metal instruments do not crack in extreme weather and as they were hollow, they were light. Rampone’s double-wall flutes and clarinets were even adopted by the Italian military. When the patent ran out, other makers started to produce double-wall instruments and they were manufactured until the middle of the 20th century. This lovely double-wall silver flute is exquisitely made sometime around the 1880s. The flute features beautifully engraved decoration on the lip-plate, around the tone-holes and end caps.

rampone silver flute
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E. Rittershausen, Berlin

One of the beautiful stories of mythology tells of the way the first musical instrument was suggested. As the story runs, as Orpheus was walking along the shores of the sea, his foot struck a reed that had been cast up by the waters, and had dried in the sun. The reed gave forth a soft, sweet sound as it was made to vibrate by the stroke of Orpheus’ foot and the result was the lyre or hand-harp of the ancient Egyptians. A similar story, and probably the same one adapted to the wind instruments, is that of Lucretius which says that “the simple flute had its origin from the breathing of western winds over certain reeds,” and thus was suggested the musical pipe, or simple tube, which has developed into one of the most fascinating of instruments.

The most elaborate and beautiful collection of flutes ever displayed in the United States, and probably in the world, was seen by visitors to the German section of the Columbian Exposition. The display was that of E. Rittershausen, of Berlin. It was arranged in a large, square glass case, and consisted of flutes made of various woods, of Ebonite and of sterling silver. The Rittershausen flutes are the standard of the world, and have received the indorsement of the best performers upon this favorite instrument. Until 1832 the flute was not regarded as a perfect instrument. In that year Theobald Boehm, of Munich, brought the instrument to such a degree of perfection as to make it one of the most prominent of orchestral and solo instruments. The Rittershausen flutes are made exactly upon the Boehm system, and with such wondrous skill and delicacy of workmanship as to have long since become the favorite of discriminating flutists. It is, in fact, the instrument universally referred to when the Boehm flute is desired.

Like the illustrious Boehm, Mr. Rittershausen is also a virtuoso as well as a manufacturer, devoting his entire faculties to the production of a perfect flute. By his own practical skill he is enabled to appreciate the many details and requirements in the construction of such an instrument as is demanded by the most fastidious virtuoso. This, it will readily be seen, is an invaluable consideration in the selection of a flute by a skilled performer. And in the rapid progress of musical culture of America, there are many lovers of the beautiful instrument who are its admirers and enthusiastic students at the present time.

Living in the musical city of Berlin, Mr. Rittershausen is thrown in personal contact with the greatest flutists of Europe, thereby receiving many suggestions from them that are of incalculable benefit in the manufacture of his instruments. The Rittershausen factory is located at 107 Bergmann street, Berlin, and its product has been famous from the establishing of the present business in 1870. Each year adds largely to the number of Rittenhausen-Boehm flutes in use in America, and they have received the highest testimonials from the most famous composers and performers in this country as well as those abroad. The American representative of the Rittershausen flutes is Mr. Carl Fischer, No. 6 Fourth Avenue, New York.

Musical Instruments at the World’s Columbian Exposition – Frank D. Abbottt, Charles A. Daniell – 1895 – P. 200