Walking stick flute – DECKER, Joseph This is a fascinating and extremely rare walking stick instrument. This three-part marvel was made by the Bavarian master turner and instrument workshop of Joseph DECKER. It’s maybe from the mid-1800s. Very little is known about Joseph Decker and few of his instruments are known...
Everyone is familiar with the flutemakers FREYER! This Johann Gottlieb FREYER (ca.1764-1808) flute is crafted in boxwood and has three silver keys. The ferrules are turned from ivory just like its beautiful cap. All parts of this flute are stamped with the maker’s Prussian eagle and I.G. FREYER stamp. But that’s...
This C clarinet was made by the Bavarian and Munich-based master instrument maker, Benedict PENTENRIEDER (1809-1849). Pentenrieder’s life story and that of his immediate family are quite sad ones. He lived a very short life… dying at the age of just 40. He worked at the same time and location...
This A clarinet was made by the Bavarian and Munich-based master instrument maker, Benedict PENTENRIEDER (1809-1849). Pentenrieder’s life story and that of his immediate family are quite sad ones. He lived a very short life… dying at the age of just 40. He worked at the same time and location...
This unique all-silver flute was created at the beginning of the 1900s by the revered French flute-maker Louis Léon Joseph LEBRET (1862-1942). Take a moment and listen to Pierre-Octave FERROUD (1900-1936) – Bergère captive (from 3 Trois pièces pour flûte seule) The son of a music teacher, Lebret worked for ten years...
This instrument certainly needs some explaining! It came to us as you can see on the photos and was used for music making just how it is! It surely belonged to someone who couldn’t make an embouchure properly to play the flute. Therefore, that person needed to use the W. Wheatstone...
This oboe was made around 1910 in Brussels, Belgium. It is a full system oboe and features a thumb-plate. The key mechanism is silver plated. The instrument is finely made… by one member of the Albert family of instrument makers. It wasn’t just any family member, but rather Jacques (Émile) ALBERT...
This beautiful bassoon was made by the famed and innovative Lyon-based maker of woodwind instruments, Monsieur Jacques François SIMIOT (1769-1844). He was particularly renowned for his clarinets and bassoons. This is an early example of a Simiot instrument, made perhaps around 1800. Jacques François Simiot was born in Dole, France in...
This is a stunning, fully-restored conical ring-key flute by THIBOUVILLE. There were many members of the THIBOUVILLE family and despite years of research and over 30 known maker’s stamps (thanks to René Pierre), this is a new one! The flute is made of grenadilla and has nickel silver keywork. It was...
This delightful, boxwood flute with horn rings and a brass key was made by Christian Friedrich HETSCH (1798-1880), sometime around 1840. He was the last in a generation of woodwind instrument makers and musicians who lived in the town of Urach, in the Swabian Alp in Germany.The flute has been...
