This reform flute was made by Josef KREISEL who was active making mainly flutes, clarinets and piccolos in the city of Cologne, Germany towards the end of the nineteenth century. He learnt his skills from E. JEHRING in Altenburg and spent some of his journeyman years with the Wünnenberg family of instrument makers. Between 1830-1900, the Wünnenbergs of Cologne concentrated on making flutes and clarinets to supply regional military music bands. They also delivered instruments abroad, including to the USA.

Josef Kreisel was also heavily involved in the supply of instruments to military music bands. He registered two patent-like German Reich Utility Models [D.R.G.M – Deutsche Reichs-Gebrauchsmuster] – one for the flute and the other for the clarinet. His son Hermann took over his business in later years.

This reform flute is in good condition. It is made of grenadilla wood and seems to have no cracks. The ebonite lip plate is in great condition too. The mechanism, keys and rings are all made of nickel silver. This instrument is special in that it has little metal pins to help the player assemble the instrument correctly 😊. It has a very unusual mechanism, which we haven’t seen up until now – Josef Kreisel’s DRGM # 22249. If the G key is closed, the ring-key for the index finger of the right hand is lifted. However, only if the top ring is closed. This mechanism is only guaranteed to work with a special ‘seesaw’ lever arrangement.

The flute plays at around a=440 Hz and has a shiny, bright sound. This is a nice and interesting reform flute crafted by a quite unknown instrument maker.