DCM#: 916
(Quantz Flute)

Two Full Size Drawings (Page 19a and Page 19b) by Jean-François Beaudin, Quebec, Canada. 1997. (Reproduced here with permission from Jean-François Beaudin. Please make written requests for permission for other uses to: Jean-François Beaudin.)

Invoice to Frederick the Great from Quantz listing salary amounts due to members of the Court Orchestra.

Porcelain Case Shown Holding the Corps de Rechange. (The decorative painting and guilded brasswork declares that this instrument was intended for royalty -- in this case, Frederick the Great).

DCM#: 916
Flute in C

Frederick the Great, king of Prussia (1712-86), one of history's most famous amateur musicians, maintained a superior court orchestra in eighteenth-century Europe. It included as principal players Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88), son of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Although a gifted amateur composer, Frederick was chiefly a passionate flute player. In 1741 he secured the services of Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) to reside at the court as the King's personal music teacher, among other duties. Accomplished in all aspects of musicianship, Quantz eventually specialized in the flute. During the second quarter of the century he introduced improvements to the standard one-keyed instrument, including a second key and other innovative features. Although his well-known writings encouraged the widespread use of his new two-keyed flute, the success of the instrument was mostly limited to his geographical area. The majority of Quantz's flutes were made for his royal student, Frederick. Of those few that are extant, the example in the Miller Collection is excellent and nearly complete. It survives in its original porcelain plush-lined storage and display box with gilt hardware.

For a survey of extant Quantz instruments, the reader is directed to the Mary Oleskiewicz's article, "A Museum, a World War, and Rediscovery: Flutes by Quantz and Others at the Hohenzollern Museum," published in Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, 24 (1998).