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Flute, C

Date1796-1806 ca.
Place MadeDresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedStamped on head joint and foot: [crossed Saxon swords] / H. GRENSER / DRESDEN Stamped on all other sections: [crossed Saxon swords] / H. GRENSER MarkingsArabic 1, 2, or 3 stamped below maker's mark on each of the three corps de rechange. Longest joint bears 1; shortest, 3.DescriptionEbony body in four sections with two additional upper middle joints (three corps de rechange in total). Four block-mounted, silver keys with chamfered, square flaps. Ivory ferrules and headcap.

Dating of this instrument takes into account the crossed swords, which Heinrich Grenser included in his maker's mark from 1796-1806. According to woodwind scholars, his signature thereafter included a crown, as Saxony had become a kingdom.
DimensionsOverall length: 625 mm, 618 mm, 611 mm (with the different corps de rechange)
Embouchure:10.3 mm x 8.8 mm
Sounding length: 539 mm, 532 mm, 525 mm (with the different corps de rechange)
ProvenancePurchased in 1985 from Bernhard von Hünerbein, Cologne, Germany,
Published ReferencesPhillip T. Young, 4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments, Tony Bingham (London, 1993), p. 100 (see Y21).

André P. Larson. Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848. With essay by John Koster. Exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003. Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003. Page 40.

William Waterhouse, The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors (London: Tony Bingham, 1993), p. 145-146.

Von Huene, Friedrich and James B. Kopp, "Grenser," in The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
Credit LineRawlins Fund, 1985
Object number03573
On View
On view
Bassoon, C
August Grenser
1753-1763 ca.
Flute, C
Johann Georg Otto
1798
Flute, C
Johann Wilhelm Oberlender I
1720 ca.
Clarinet, A
August Grenser
1785
Spinet
Johann Heinrich Silbermann
1785
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