The Concertina Museum: 1.2.8-001



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Item Type: Wheatstone Flute Embouchure

Summary

Full Description: This unusual transverse Flute Embouchure was made by William Wheatstone (Charles Wheatstone’s father) at his music shop at 128 Pall Mall (where young Charles was apprenticed for a time). It enables the amateur flautist to sound the flute without any difficult lip-positioning: this transverse model also does away with the need to hold the flute across from the lips – it can be played straight on, like a penny whistle! The silver-plated embouchure has an ivory fipple, and a gilt brass name plate embossed “(crown) W Wheatstone 128 Pall Mall, 2453” (this last the item’s serial number). The ivory bound boxwood headstock is also stamped “W Wheatstone, 128 Pall Mall”.
There are two Wheatstone Embouchures in the Dayton C Miller Flute Collection, in the Music Division of the Library of Congress,USA. (Miller purchased one of them in 1937 from the sister of Catherina Josepha Pratten (neé Pelzer) the noted Victorian concertina player, composer and arranger!) A print of the Dayton Collection entry is included, plus an extract from the Wheatstone Sales Ledgers for 1846 showing that “Mr W Senr” was billed twice for “Mouth Pieces one pound”.

Source Catalogue No: The Concertina Museum: 1.2.8-001





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The Concertina Museum Collection

Created August 2009 by Neil Wayne
Last Modified 07 February 2012 by Neil Wayne, Chris Flint, Wes Williams

This page created Tuesday 14 February 2012.