Manby (Charles William) 1840s 8-key flute (fully restored) - demo (my ref

Описание: Post-restoration demonstration of this lovely mid 1840s English 8-key simple system flute made in cocuswood and silver by Charles William Manby of 85 Fleet Street, London (which gives the date range 1841-6).

There is a full photo-history of the restoration of the flute here:   / 10154754061454271  

There is a full 3 8ve chromatic scale demonstration of the flute, including exploration of common alternative fingerings for certain notes at the end of the video.


The flute is a very easy play (any infelicities and deficiencies in the video are mine, not the flute's!), requiring very little air for a rich, strong tone. It has probably the best scale intonation (with standard period 8-key fingerings, including key-venting for F# and C#) of any C19th English flute I have played. It is very responsive, with a rich tone in all three registers and the third register is easy to access while the low end is strong and vibrant and it requires little air. The tone quality is perhaps a little lighter, less dark than my Rudall & Rose flutes, but is certainly in that style - the typical English School reedy, strong, wooden flute timbre. Although not accustomed to it, I find the Nicholson R hand posture (defined by the up-turned long F key touch) easy to adapt to and comfortable.

Please forgive my mediocre playing and my dodgy embouchure which don't really do the flute justice. (I spend too much time fiddling with flutes instead of practicing!) Especially make allowances for my amateurish rending of Handel! Also please note that my phonecam audio parameters seem to accentuate treble, hissy sounds which are much less prominent in real life, and that there is an occasional pitch-sympathetic buzz from something in the recording room which I can't find and eliminate!!!)
I hope my efforts are adequate to show what the flute is capable of for a better player.

The music in the video includes:
1) Slip Jigs: Neidod Twm Bach (Little Tom's Leap/Caper) & Hoffedd Modryb Marged (Aunt Margaret's Fancy) (both trad Welsh)
2) Reels (@ 02:35): Up the Walls of the World (by Martin Reese & Paul Thomson [England]), The Reel of Mullinavat (trad Irish) & The Jack Frost (by Jem Hammond [Wales, 1988] - notation available here: https://app.box.com/s/1g54z39oazjp3h2...)
3) Slow Air (@ 06:31): Lament for Mr. Mark Long of Cork (by Jem Hammond [Wales, 11:10:2016] - notation available here: https://app.box.com/s/q76ztnhtukucxfx...)
4) Playford tune (@ 10:25): Tunbridge Beauties (trad English, Playford 2.062, notation available here: https://app.box.com/s/fx2succh1888pfv...)
5) Reels (@ 12:30): Splendid Isolation (by Brendan McGlinchey [pre1972, London/Ireland ]), The Lilac Reel (by Mairead McMahon [Ireland ]), Brendan Stubbert's (by Jerry Holland [Cape Breton]), Eileen Curran (trad Irish, aka The Sailor Set on Shore or The Sailor's Return) & Johnny's Wedding (trad Irish/Scottish, aka Colonel McBain's) (notation available here: https://app.box.com/s/obq9oofr04iscuc...)
6a) (@ 18:46) GF Handel: Sonata Op1 No.5 (HWV363b) - 1: Adagio
6b) (@ 20:43) GF Handel: Sonata Op1 No.5 (HWV363b) - 2: Allegro
7) (@ 22:53) Chromatic scale exploration/demonstration.