The history of the flute can be tracedback to 43,000 year old bones from a mute swan found in Geissenklösterle cave, in Germany. It is suggestedthat these first flutes were used in religious rituals and recreation as wellas social networking. The flute’s smaller sibling, the piccolo, has a historythat is a bit more clouded. It was the smallest member of a Renaissance consortof transverse flutes and continued to be used as an octave instrument above thelarger instrument. The early piccolo found its place in the orchestral works ofRameau as well as other composers who used its high, piercing voice torepresent storms and angry gods. Much of this history is conjecture amongscholars and has required research to be compiled to formulate a viabletimeline. In reality, the history of the piccolo as we all know it today (asidefrom those of us who have some historical performance interest) stems from theundisputed father of the flute, Theobald Böehm.
Theobald Böehm (1794-1881) is known for developingthe key system used on the modern flute. His schema, or schematic, shows the proportional tone-hole size andplacement based on mathematical computations. His work has been used andrecalculated by most every modern flute manufacturer. What many don’t know isthat Böehm also applied hiskeywork design to the piccolo and manufactured a few piccolos. He had a stronginterest in a cylindrical body style but these were not favored by players asmuch as the conical body design. While I am glossing over a ton of specificdetails, my apologies to my research colleagues, it is simply to get to someinteresting and maybe more important history that might be of greater interestto the general population of piccolo players.
Böehm is known to be the father ofthe modern flute (and piccolo) but he was also a businessman and a teacher.Maybe the more interesting history is who worked with and was trained by Böehm. Mechanical development aside,it is the training that he provided to his employees and apprentices thatreally marks the world of the piccolo, and that information has fallen to thewayside. Böehm had severaliterations of his company through the years, and Böehm and Mendler (1862-1888) is where hiswork with the piccolo really took place. Carl Mendler (1833-1914) was hisbusiness partner and the father of Karl Mendler (1862-1920). Both Carl and hisson Karl were known flute and piccolo makers. Among others who trained in the Böehm and Mendler shop were JohannVoigt (1867-1908), James Wilkins, Jr. (d. 1909), Ernst Robert Leibl(1871-1920). One of the many apprentices that worked with Böehm was Emil Rittershausen (1852-1927), whose lineage is the focusof this particular article.
Rittershausen established his own shoparound 1876 and he is known for his flutes and piccolos (I personally own twoof his instruments). Many of his instruments were imported and sold under thestencil of Carl Fischer, a large importer of professional instruments and musicaround the turn of the century. The Rittershausen shop continued to produceflutes and piccolos after Emil’s death, but it is the instruments that weremade under his watchful eye that are true gems and highly sought after.Rittershausen also claimed to have invented the split-E mechanism during hiswork with flutist Emil Prill (1867-1940), but this claim has been disputed.Rittershausen was a highly respected maker and teacher, just like his ownformer teacher. It is in the apprenticeships that the lineage of Böehm and Rittershausen continues toblossom.
One of Rittershausen’s apprentices wasArthur (Anton) Gemeinhardt (d. 1930), father of Kurt Gemeinhardt (1908-1974),founder of Gemeinhardt flutes and piccolos. Another apprentice was PhillipHammig (1888-1967), recognizable as the maker of the well-known Hammig piccolosplayed by so many orchestral players around the world. Both of these studentscame from families with a long succession of instrument makers, but theytrained in flute and piccolo making with Rittershausen. While these men mostcertainly had many other influences on their instrument building techniques andimplemented their own designs and ideas into their individual lines ofpiccolos, their work was directly influenced by the teachings of Böehm and Rittershausen.
I personally love knowing that thepiccolos played by so many today are only just slightly removed from suchprofound developments in music history and instrument manufacturing. I alsofeel very lucky to own two instruments that were made in Rittershausen’s shopduring his lifetime that are still playable. I am reminded of this lineage eachand every time that I play those instrument in a performance and I am honoredto hold such a profound piece of history in my hands.
