The page contains an achieve of old news stories published on the home page. Most are updates to the site.
I recently came across a page from the “New York Jeweler Annual Catalogue” for 1900 which advertised musical instruments at wholesale prices.
Two types of English flageolet made from Cocoa-wood are offered. They are described as being “in B” and “in C”, although from the illustration it seems they have seven tone holes on the front so they were probably a standard English flageolet in D and a far more unusual one in C. Both types of flageolet came with at least one key, although the flageolet “in C” was also available with four or six keys.
What, however, particularly interests me is the pricing. The cheapest flageolet “in B” with one key was $3.60. The most expensive, “in C” with six keys was $5.95. The inflation charts I have looked at suggest that that equates to about $100 to $175 at today’s prices which, curiously, is not dissimilar to what an antique English flageolet might sell for today!
Although these are not huge sums of money, they are considerably more than other instruments advertised on the same page. Two tin whistles, both described as “flageolets” and made by Clark or an American company sell for 25-40c; whilst fifes range from 13c for a tin one to $2.50 for a Grenadilla “extra qualty” model. Only the Ebony fifes with pure silver ferrels are more expensive. Indeed, the prices are far more equivalent to for more professional instruments such as flutes (ranging from $3.33 to $6.58 for one- to six-key models) or piccolos. At these prices it is easy to see why the English flageolet lost so much ground to the tin whistle following its invention amongst it primarily amateur audience.
Published on: Sat, 02 Sep 2017 11:06:08 +0100
This site’s navigation has relied on hovering over the menus with the cursor for some time now. I realise that this has made it almost impossible to use on a touch-screen device. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to rectify by making a proper small-screen or mobile-compatible version but have provided a semi-fix by making the arrows non-links so you can touch them to get the menu without reloading the page.
Published on: Mon, 21 Aug 2017 18:05:26 +0100
I recently came across a work by Jules Jannin called “L’Art d’Élever et de Multiplier les Serins, Canaris et Hollandais” which seems ot have been first published in the 1850s and remained in print until the 1950s. Interesting, it contains a short section on using a bird flageolet to teach captive song birds to sing, suggesting that the practice was still carried out until these dates.
I have transcribed the relevant sections and added them to the page on bird flageolets and am planning on seeing if I can find any further information about late use of these instruments.
Published on: Sat, 25 Mar 2017 11:24:11 +0000
Following a very helpful comment by Rubens Küffer, I have re-worked the “listen” page, including many of the new videos that have been uploaded to YouTube in the years since I started this site.
A wide variety of recordings are now available, both professional and amateur, in the concert hall and recording studio, and including the full range of the family from the bird flageolet to the triple flageolet.
Do have a look and let me know if you think I have missed any of your favourites!
Published on: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 14:11:35 +0100
The French ebay recently turned up a French flagolet tutor by A. Patusset. The IMSLP Petrucci website suggests a publication date of 1866 to 1874 by reference to the publisher’s address (Alphonse Leduc; 36 rue Lepeletier).
The work has the usual introduction to musical theory; the instrument; fingering charts; and a number of studies and pieces of music of increasing difficulty. I hope, one day, to publish some of the music on this website.
In the meantime, the introduction to the instrument is interesting for its description of the French flageolet in this period. Recorder-style French flageolets were still popular but were seen by Patusset as less attractive instruments than more classical styles of the instrument (which apparently also had a sponge to condense the moisture).
Of the Flageolet
The flageolet is an instrument that is used today in every ball orchestra; in salons with piano accompaniment; and in all amateur concerts to play quadrilles. It is very easy to play; the embouchure is learned [by playing] on it; in fact, it is made by placing the lips on it and blowing, to bring out the notes.
There are several forms of flageolets; some have mouthpieces, called a short flageolet (“flageolet court”); others have a windcap (“pompe”); they all play the same way, even those with keys, the only difference is in the ease with which one plays some of the runs.
The best flageolets are in ebony with a windcap. In the windcap there is a sponge that fills the void, concentrating the humidity, without preventing the passage of the wind.
The flageolet in A, the only that is used in orchestras, is the one to study in preference. It is indeed, also, the one whose sound is more pleasant.
Du Flageolet
Le flageolet est un instrument en usage aujourd’hui dans tous les orchestres de bals; dans les salons avec accompagnement de piano et dans toutes les réunions d’amateures pour exécuter des contredanses. It est très-facile à jouer, son embouchure s’apprend de suite; il suffit, en effet, de la poser légèrement sur les lèvres et de souffler, pour faire sortir les notes.
Il existe des flageolets de plusieurs formes; les uns sont à bec, on les nomme Flageolets courts; les autres sont à pompe; ils se jouent tous de la même manière même ceux à clef, dont la différence unique consiste dans la facilité qu’on éprouve à exécuter quelques traits.
Les meilleurs flageolets sont en bois d’ébène et à pompe. Dans la pompe, on introduit une ponge qui remplit le vide, concentre l’humiditê, sans empêcher le passage du vent.
Le flageolet en la, le seul dont on se sert dans les orchestres, est celui qu’il faut étudier de préférence. C’est du reste, également, celui dont la sonorité est la plus agréable.
Published on: Sun, 29 May 2016 21:47:40 +0100
The caricature statute of Collinet by Dantan is the only portrait of this famous French flageolet player that I have found. I have recently come across the third engraving of it: in the Illustrated London News in 1842. It is accompanied, not by an article about Collinet or a review of one of his concerts, by possibly the worst poem I have read!
Oh Collinet
To hear you play
Your flageolet, from day to day
Enchanted maids might hearken;
But in what fit
Did Dantan’s wit
High mount you on that perch to sit,
Your gentle brow to darken?
[continues for two more stanzas]
Published on: Sun, 31 Jan 2016 21:50:00 +0000
An unusual instrument I recently came across on the French ebay is a small, metal bird flageolet which is not something I had previously thought existed.
This flageolet is about 4½ inches long, with a lowest note of G two-and-a-half octaves above middle C (at A=440). Clearly made quite cheaply in at least two parts, it mostly plays in the lowest octave with conventional French flageolet fingering.
Its construction method would suggest it is from the late 19th Century, when bird flageolets were not well known and played. I therefore wonder if it was designed as a toy, although this remains a little mystery.
Published on: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:14:25 +0000
Although Edmé and Hubert Collinet were the most famous performers, composers and publishers on and for the French Flageolet in the 19th Century, very little of their music has survived. I am therefore very pleased to make available the Sérenades for French Flageolet, Piano or Violin (the first complete, the second onwards in part) in a new edition for free download. At the time of writing, I believe it is the only music by either Collinet available for download or purchase on the web.
Published on: Sat, 28 Nov 2015 18:13:33 +0000
When looking through old newspapers, I came across two intriguing adverts posted in the Caledonian Mercury in 1783 by James Clark. The first is for a concert, where Clerk announces that the programme will include a duet for two flageolets played by himself. In the second, he offers his services as a teacher including “the English Flute or Flagelet, on which he plays two at once, first and second.”
The language of this is remarkably similar to that of John Parry, 20 years later, with his first experiments which led to the development of the double flageolet with William Bainbridge. Did Parry meet Clark and take inspiration from him? Or was it just a co-incidence? Perhaps one day another advert will shed some light on the question.
Published on: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 08:06:56 +0000
I have long been unhappy with the earliest scores published on this site back in 2007 and 2008 and am slowly re-engraving them. One piece is “Break of Morn in the Forest”, composed by the French bandleader and French flageolet player, Frédéric Bonnisseau in, perhaps, 1870.
The new edition includes a number of corrections to the old one, along with a transposed part for flageolet in A. I have also prepared a midi file of the score to make re-use of the material easier.
Published on: Sat, 24 Oct 2015 15:28:53 +0100
Hubert Collinet was, perhaps, the most famous French flageolet player in the 19th Century. Unfortunately, the only portrait of him which I have come across is not a perfect likeness but a caricature by Jean Pierre Dantan (1800–1860) in the form of a small sculpture.
Whilst the original sculpture is, I believe, in the collection of the Musée Carnavalet and I have had available for some time a straight-forward engraving of it on the website, I recently came across a wood-block print of it which is now available on the website.
Published on: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:28:53 +0100
An occasional pleasure, when buying old music for the flageolet is finding a note or other piece of emphemera which has survived the passage of a hundred years or more.
Last Summer, I purchased a copy of John Simpson’s “Complete Preceptor for the Improved Patent Single and Double Flageolet”. Inside were three additional pieces of manuscript. One was clearly 20th Century and was simply a copy of some ofthe pieces with fingerings added. However, the other two were written in what appeared to be a 19th Century hand and contained short, anonymous pieces, for the double flageolet which I had not seen before.
The first, “The Bullfinch” is a rather attractive Waltz with an A section written for a single pipe and a B section for both. The second, “I answered: ‘Ho, Ho, Ho.’”, is a little simpler and reminiscent of works from other tutors. Its most interesting feature is the way in which it switches, quickly between solo and duet.
I have re-engraved both works and they are not available as a single-page PDF for download, along with Egan’s “Study for the Double Flageolet”.
My plan is to, eventually, consolidate as many of the small works together to make it easier for those who are interested in this music to download, print and play it.
Published on: Sun, 14 Jun 2015 09:28:53 +0100
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