Theobald Bohm

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Theobald Böhm, approx. 1852
Grave of Theobald Böhm in the Old Southern Cemetery in Munich (Grave field 12, row 10, place 5/6 - location )

Theobald Böhm (born April 9, 1794 in Munich ; † November 25, 1881 there ) was a German flautist, master flute builder and composer .

Life

Böhm was born as the son of the goldsmith Karl Friedrich Böhm (1762-1829), with whom he did a three-year training as a gold worker from 1806. At the age of 14 he was a trained goldsmith and jeweler . He caused a sensation as the traveling flute virtuoso " Paganini the Flute", as an instrument maker and ingenious inventor as well as a composer. He was also active far outside of music, in the technical field (iron ore smelting).

As a child he showed an interest in music, first he played the flageolet, which was popular at the time, and then switched to the flute . At the age of 14 he built his first flute himself based on a model made by a Dresden flute maker. A neighbor and flautist of the " Munich Court Opera ", forerunner of the Bavarian State Orchestra , taught the boy for two years. As a thank you, Böhm kept building new, improved instruments . He soon played the flute so well that in 1812 he became the first flutist at the royal court theater on the Isarthor . During the day he built flutes and in the evening he played in the orchestra.

From 1816 to 1818 he went on a journey. His ways led to Switzerland and Strasbourg .

He published his first composition by 1822. He became famous through numerous concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and earned not badly, but not enough to support his growing family. In 1831 he went on a concert tour to London. England was a flute-loving country. There he met the then very popular English flautist Charles Nicholson . The strong tone of Nicholson prompted Böhm to do many acoustic experiments and studies.

After his return he constructed the conical ring key flute in 1832 , an instrument with its newly developed handle system, which, however, still had the inverted conical bore that was common at the time. In the following year he went on a concert tour again and achieved that the new instrument established itself in France and England.

Now he became an inventor: with a friend, the physics professor and physicist Karl Emil von Schafhäutl , he developed new smelting processes for iron ores, which he patented. In the following years he was to develop a few more inventions in this field.

In 1834 he went back to France, where, in contrast to Germany, his new handle system had become far more established. At the same time he tried to improve the flute further, which he succeeded in doing in 1847 with the introduction of the cylindrical bore. He granted licenses to important flute makers (including Rudall, Carte and Rose in England, Godefroy Ainé and Louis Lot in France), and so the new flutes began their triumphal march. The flute is still built today, except for minor changes, based on Theobald Böhm's developments. The clarinet after the Boehm system and the saxophone also use his grip system essentially.

He also ingeniously improved the flap mechanism by arranging flaps and handles on long arms. At an advanced age, in 1860, he developed a completely new type of instrument, the alto flute in G with the Böhm fingering system. At approx. 87 cm, this is significantly longer than the normal Böhm flute (approx. 69 cm) and sounds a fourth lower. It is grasped (and notated) like a Boehm flute in C, but the lowest sounding note is a g (also f or es), so it is a transposing instrument. The alto flute has an extraordinarily full, warm tone that can be modulated.

"You can see that although I am almost 75 years old, I have not let up in my efforts to make my instrument as perfect as possible."

- Theobald Böhm (in a letter)

Böhm's grave - he died in the house where he was born - is located in the Old Southern Cemetery in Munich (grave field 12, row 10, place 5/6 ). World icon

Böhm's innovations in the flute

Boehm developed the flute in three important ways continue and thereby founded modern flute, also Böhm flutes called:

  • The bore of the flute is no longer the other way around conical (as is the case with most piccolo flutes today ), but rather cylindrical. By introducing a slight cone in the headjoint, Böhm achieved that the octaves are in tune with a cylindrical body.
  • The position and the diameter of the tone holes are based only on acoustic requirements without regard to tangibility. He introduced the acoustically optimal large tone holes.
  • He developed an ingenious fingering system, which nevertheless made it possible to play all keys more fluently than the flutes that were used up until then.

Works

  • The flute and the flute playing in acoustic, technical and artistic relationship . Zimmermann, Frankfurt a. M. 1980. (Repr. Of the Leipzig edition 1870). - Full text online .
  • About flute making and the latest improvements to it . Schott, Mainz 1847. - Full text online .
  • Scheme for determining the position of the holes on wind instruments. Edited and introduced by Karl Ventzke . With an afterword by Otto Steinkopf (= Edition Moeck 4020). Moeck, Celle 1980, ISBN 3-87549-011-8 . - Full text online .

literature

Web links

Commons : Theobald Böhm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theobald Böhm and his flute. In:  Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , No. 33/1850 (XXXIII. Volume), October 22, 1850, p. 181 ff. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nzm.
  2. ↑ Sabine Fringes: Theobald Böhm - the inventor of the modern flute. In: Calendar sheet (broadcast on DLF ). April 9, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) death. In:  Die Presse , Abendblatt, No. 329/1881 (XXXIV. Year), November 29, 1881, p. 3, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr.
personal data
SURNAME Boehm, Theobald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German flautist and master flute maker
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1881
Place of death Munich