19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

The Chiff & Fipple Irish Flute on-line community. Sideblown for your protection.
User avatar
Steve Bliven
Posts: 2973
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:06 pm
antispam: No
Location: Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA

Re: 19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

Post by Steve Bliven »

[[ Deleted double posting — it's very hot here and the keyboard is sticky ]]

Steve
Live your life so that, if it was a book, Florida would ban it.
User avatar
Mr.Gumby
Posts: 6606
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:31 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Location: the Back of Beyond

Re: 19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

Post by Mr.Gumby »

Was there an Irish musical contingent in or around NYC in the mid-1800s (or in contact via catalogue purchases) which might have been a market for the Firth-Hall-Pond, E. Riley, Asa Hopkins, Jabez Camp makers/sellers? (And the input from paddler and conical bore is much appreciated.)
Take into consideration the big wave of mid 19th century migrants from Ireland will have been forced out by the Famine. Overall not a group with much spending power. The cost of new flutes will have been prohibitive to most at that time. Also, popularity and spread of flutes and fluteplaying (in Irish music) is perhaps more associated with the (very) late 1800s.
My brain hurts

Image
Uni Flute
Posts: 387
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2015 3:50 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8

Re: 19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

Post by Uni Flute »

I could be wrong, but I always imagined that the wooden flute was one of the later additions to the arsenal of the Irish Traditional Musician. The fine 8 key flutes made in the New York area that many members on this board so highly regard were produced in earlier and middle parts of the 19th Century, before the time period that many attribute to the arrival of the simple system flute in the Irish tradition.
As a theoretical suggestion, perhaps the arrival of large quantities of mass produced German pin mounted flutes, in the last quarter of the 19th Century, were possibly the first examples that some of the Irish musicians in America may have been able to afford.
User avatar
benhall.1
Moderator
Posts: 14797
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:21 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I'm a fiddler and, latterly, a fluter. I love the flute. I wish I'd always played it. I love the whistle as well. I'm blessed in having really lovely instruments for all of my musical interests.
Location: Unimportant island off the great mainland of Europe

Re: 19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

Post by benhall.1 »

Uni Flute wrote:I could be wrong, but I always imagined that the wooden flute was one of the later additions to the arsenal of the Irish Traditional Musician. The fine 8 key flutes made in the New York area that many members on this board so highly regard were produced in earlier and middle parts of the 19th Century, before the time period that many attribute to the arrival of the simple system flute in the Irish tradition.
As a theoretical suggestion, perhaps the arrival of large quantities of mass produced German pin mounted flutes, in the last quarter of the 19th Century, were possibly the first examples that some of the Irish musicians in America may have been able to afford.
... or, as a theory that I think I remember reading somewhere ... 8-key English flutes were dumped in the market when they became obsolete due to the popularity of the new Boehm system from the 1840s on.
Uni Flute
Posts: 387
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2015 3:50 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8

Re: 19th century NY flutemakers and Irish music

Post by Uni Flute »

benhall.1 wrote:
Uni Flute wrote:I could be wrong, but I always imagined that the wooden flute was one of the later additions to the arsenal of the Irish Traditional Musician. The fine 8 key flutes made in the New York area that many members on this board so highly regard were produced in earlier and middle parts of the 19th Century, before the time period that many attribute to the arrival of the simple system flute in the Irish tradition.
As a theoretical suggestion, perhaps the arrival of large quantities of mass produced German pin mounted flutes, in the last quarter of the 19th Century, were possibly the first examples that some of the Irish musicians in America may have been able to afford.
... or, as a theory that I think I remember reading somewhere ... 8-key English flutes were dumped in the market when they became obsolete due to the popularity of the new Boehm system from the 1840s on.
That is the primary reason given for the eventual rejection of the simple system flute from classical music. The arrival of the mass-produced German "Nach Meyer" flutes possibly compounded this. Their effect on the reputation of the simple system flute as a design was quite possibly very detrimental, and may have also affected pricing of non German simple system flutes in the used market, such as English and American built ones. Of course, this is my own personal speculation :)
Post Reply