All of the instruments are based on specific examples from public museums, and my aim is to reproduce as faithfully as possible the playing qualities of the original when it was new.

Rippert worked in Paris at the start of the eighteenth century, and is noted in a number of contemporary documents as one of the most able instrument makers working at that time. Like Hotteterre and the other flutemakers working in this period, Rippert also made a variety of other wind instruments which were distributed across Europe. It appears that Rippert's instruments were used for a variety of styles of Baroque music, and so it is reasonable to assume that the Rippert flutes can be used for Italianate and Galant music as well as for French music. This includes the music of Hotteterre, Bach, Telemann, and Quantz.

All of the surviving Rippert flutes are made in three pieces and play at a much lower pitch than the modern "Baroque Standard Pitch" of A'=415Hz. They produce a deep, powerful sound and can be played strongly in all registers. Raising the pitch to A'=415Hz would eliminate much of the charectaristic tone, and so I make these flutes at A'=392Hz, which is very close to the original pitch.

The instrument on which this flute is based is held in the Glen collection of Glasgow university. It is a particularly fine example of Rippert's work, but unfortunately the embouchure has been altered at some time in the distant past. Luckily there are surviving examples if Rippert flutes in Paris and St Moritz that conform to the same acoustic design, and so I have used details from these instruments to restore the design of the Glasgow instrument.

The instrument pictured above is in boxwood at A'=392Hz with a single silver key. Price 670 pounds sterling.

Richard Potter was one of the most influential flutemakers of the late eighteenth century. Much of his fame derives from the "Patent Flute" of 1785, and in producing this flute Potter did more to popularise the keyed flute than any other maker of his time. The Patent flute was a six key instrument with a C foot, a metal lined tuning slide, and small keys that sealed with soft plugs of pewter rather than a leather covered flap like earlier instruments.

However, for forty years before producing the Patent flute Richard Potter had been building a reputation by making fine one key flutes to a design typical of mid eighteenth century London flutemakers. In the mid eighteenth century London the taste was for a flute with a wide bore and a small embouchure. This gives a bright, interesting, recorder-like tone, easy control of intonation, and a good deal of flexibility to the tone. It is well to remember that the vast majority of flutes were sold to amateur players who would have seen a flute with an easy intonation control as a distinct advantage!

The flute I make is based on these one key instruments to produce a flute typical of the type being played in London during the mid to late eighteenth century. It is also worth remembering that during the eighteenth century London-made flutes, and those flutes made by Richard Potter especially, were highly regarded throughout Europe and were exported in large numbers.

This flute does not have the sheer power of the early french flutes (such as the Rippert flute above, which could easily cope in a baroque orchestra) or some of the classical one-key flutes, but can easily be played strongly enough to hold its own in a chamber group. This is not surprising, as the amateur players of the eighteenth century would be playing chamber music for their own entertainment, and for small groups of friends. In this context a good, clear, interesting and highly flexible tone is far more important.

 I studied a number of Potter instruments before finally selecting a fine example in the Edinburgh Collection of Historical Musical Instruments. The original instrument (like most of the Potter flutes made around 1780) plays at around 418Hz, however the instrument illustrated below has a corps de rechange to allow it to play at 415Hz.

 The instrument pictured above is in stained boxwood at A'=415Hz with silver rings around the sockets and a single silver key.

Price 740 pounds sterling

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