This exceptional late-Romantic flute was made by the company Rampone & B. Cazzani & C in Milan. On the death of the famous woodwind instrument maker Agostino RAMPONE (1843-1897), his son Egidio (1872-1937) went into partnership with Battista CAZZANI (1846-1920), a watchmaker and brass instrument manufacturer and married Cazzani’s daughter. When Cazzani died in 1920, the company became Ditte riunite A. Rampone e. B. Cazzani e. C. 

This model was inspired by the flutes made by Johann ZIEGLER (1794/5-1858). In fact, it was called the ‘Flauto Sistema Ziegler’. It was one of the leading flute models in orchestras in the late nineteenth century. It has the typical Ziegler flute design. The bottom notes for B, C and C-sharp are obtained using pewter plugged keys. It features a metal-lined head joint with a tuning slide and two separate G-sharp keys.

Furthermore, it has metal inlaid tenons and fingerhole bushings. There are even markings so that the owner can adjust each part of the flute to its correct position. The flute has a C key and trill keys at the side with a spectacular lever to raise three keys all in one go. The pitch is a=438 with the tuning slide fully in. It is possible to lower the pitch down by ten Hertz.

The grenadilla has been varnished to give it a nice final touch. The mechanisms all work fine. The rollers for the C-sharp and C are in perfect order. All in all, this flute has a very professional feel to it. This flute is in very good playing condition. Quite unbelievably, there are no cracks in the head joint. Its leather pads are not original. The keyholes are fitted with brass inlays and we think that it originally had cork pads to give a perfect seal.

The flute plays very nicely with good intonation. The high notes speak extremely easily and it really is a typical orchestral instrument of that time.

This is no ‘ordinary’ Rampone flute, but a very rare and exquisite specimen. It has a beautifully decorated cast crown and end foot ring, not to mention eye-catching shiny, silver-plated fingerhole bushings.  We have only seen one other so far, which used to be in the Gandalf Collection.