Alto recorder, F
Alternate name(s)
- Treble recorder
Maker
Johann Benedikt Gahn
Date1698-1711 ca.
Place MadeNuremberg, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedQuite faint maker's mark stamped at upper end of body joint with elements similar to known Gahn signatures, especially a scroll above and monogram.Markingsnone
DescriptionThree sections, boxwood, ornately carved, the headjoint as an anthropomorphic fish head with human eyes, foliate patterns, the foot joint also with foliate patterns, thumbhole and six fingerholes on the main joint, one fingerhole on the foot joint.
At the age of 14, Gahn (b. 1674) began an apprenticeship in the workshop of wood turner Franz Zick. In 1698, he was granted the master's right and worked as such until his death from consumption in 1711. Based on surviving examples of his work, it could be suggested that he primarily made recorders and oboes. Although Gahn was a master flute maker and turner, it is believed that the fine ornamental carving was executed by specialist craftsman.
DimensionsOverall length: 505 mm
Sounding length: 438 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1987 from Tony Bingham, London, England.
Published ReferencesPhillip T. Young, 2500 Historical Woodwind Instruments: an Inventory of the Major Collections, New York: Pendragon Press, 1982, pp. 34-35.
American Musical Instrument Society Newsletter, June 1988, p. 2.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 36.
Wendy Powers, “Checklist of Historic Recorders in American Private and Public Collections ,” The American Recorder, Vol. XXX, No. 2 (May 1989), p. 62.
Wendy Powers, “Historic Recorders in American Private and Public Collections . . .An Update ,” The American Recorder, Vol. XXXII, No. 1 (March 1991), pp. 17-20.
Lücke, Martin."Gahn, Johann Benedikt." _Die Musik Geschichte und Gegenwart_ in MGG Online, November 2016.
Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.49.
Credit LineRawlins Fund, 1987
Object number04142
On View
Not on view
