Visiting London, any flute collections there that can be...

[Thalatta]

Well, back from London. Beautiful city, fascinating place to visit. But... all of the musical instrument collections in museums were closed for renovations, so I only made it to All Flutes Plus to enjoy some of their lovely antiques.

However, since I am slightly mad and obssessed - I have explained this before - I had a walk down some of the famous streets: Strand (for Fentum's old haunts), Villiers and Tavistock streets (for Rudalls), etc. It was thrilling. The Strand has changed hugely since 1844 when Fentum was there: for a start, in the 1860s, the Victoria embankment was built just behind 78 Strand, claiming land from the River and bringing the Strand further away from the water, which in turn encouraged the building of a huge hotel, the hotel Cecil, eating up the block where 78 Strand crossed Cecil street (now gone); the hotel Cecil was then replaced by what stands there now, the Strand hotel. That said, behind some of these buildings and between them I was able to find some old little red-brick Dickens-looking buildings which were standing in 1844, as well as churches like St Mary le Strand. At one point, towards evening, I even thought I saw some 19th century figures, darkly dressed and wearing hats, wandering down Adam's Street... Enough of that.

[Steampacket]

"However, since I am slightly mad and obssessed - I have explained this before - I had a walk down some of the famous streets: ..." Thalatta.

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to London Thalatta, and I understand what you mean. I also find old flutes fascinating, even just looking at them. Mind you they often look better than they sound I think. During Willie Week we visited Sam Murray's workshop in Galway and even took some photos of Sam and myself in his shop (My girlfriend asked first if it was ok). Fascinating to see where the flutes are made and well worth documenting. Think if they had had access to digital cameras and iphones back then - the horror . Sam had a Rudall laying on his lathe bench which he played for us, and it was interesting to hear a modern master flute maker's thoughts on R&R flutes.

[Thalatta]

Yes, it was really thrilling to walk around there. It might seem crazy, but the best way to "meet" someone who lived in 1844 was for me to look closely at buildings or views that stood there at the time, a façade or rooftop or spire, with the backdrop of the sky and say "he saw that, he saw that view", and in this way I could forget the cars and have a piece of what the flutemaker saw in his day, walking perhaps from Wylde's workshop to his own, or else walking to the local church...

And this might sound madder, but when I came home after the trip and tried out my Fentum, it sounded better than ever - as though the maker were there too. No doubt just my own fancy. Or is it... Tis late now, the candle is out, I shall retire to bed.

[MTGuru]

I know exactly what you're describing, Thalatta. Not with respect to flutes, specifically. But the sense of experiencing a particular place with time flowing through it, and traveling backwards along the flow.

If you're familiar with Paris ... Sitting in the Arènes de Lutèce and surrounded by Gauls and Romans watching Plautus, instead of the guys playing pétanque in the dirt. Or Le Vert Galant at the tip of Ile de la Cité, the quiet spot next to the Pont Neuf where Jacques de Molay was burning at the stake. It's all still right there in front of you. Just not right then.

[an seanduine]

MTGURU wrote:

If you're familiar with Paris ... Sitting in the Arènes de Lutèce and surrounded by Gauls and Romans watching Plautus, instead of the guys playing pétanque in the dirt. Or Le Vert Galant at the tip of Ile de la Cité, the quiet spot next to the Pont Neuf where Jacques de Molay was burning at the stake. It's all still right there in front of you. Just not right then.

Very Nouvelle Vague!
La marquise sortit à cinq heures…

Bob

Edited one time to elucidate. . .

[Steampacket]

"It might seem crazy, but the best way to "meet" someone who lived in 1844 was for me to look closely at buildings or views that stood there at the time, a façade or rooftop or spire, with the backdrop of the sky and say "he saw that, he saw that view", ..."Thalatta.

Exactly. I often do that, and as MTGURU wrote you can imagine your self back in that time. Can be scary and thought provoking though, I was once in a hotel in Odense, Denmark, which was used by the Gestapo during the war. On a more positve note, Peter Laban showed us a spot near Quilty, Co. Clare, where Johnny Doran used to lay up.

[MTGuru]

La marquise sortit à cinq heures…

Oh la, tu m'as poussé à rechercher l'allusion littéraire.

[Thalatta]

The rest of the citation is important, for us: "La marquise sortit à cinq heures, armée de sa flûte en bois, pour se diriger vers le pub le Roi Louis où elle comptait retrouver ses amies - Monsieur le compte, violoniste, et Madame la duchesse, luthiste - pour une bonne session..." I wonder what book that's from? Surrealist isn't it?

[jemtheflute]

O?

[Thalatta]

I made that up, with intent to be silly...

[Denny]

I'd think that time travel is much too serious a topic for "silly".

[jemtheflute]

No-one's twigged my reference?

[an seanduine]

Jemtheflute said:

No-one's twigged my reference?

While nearly every "O" has a story, some cannot be discussed in a family friendly forum. . .
Thalatta wrote:

I wonder what book that's from? Surrealist isn't it?

Not being nearly so silly as he may think.
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry provided the title to a novel by Claude Mauriac in one of his essays.

Bob