Rudall, Rose & Carte: The Art of the Flute in Britain
The firm of Rudall & Rose, later Rudall, Rose & Carte, and finally Rudall
Carte, dominated flute making in Britain for a century and a half from their
founding in 1822. For much of their existence almost every professional flute
player and most serious amateurs in Britain played on one of this firm’s
instruments.
The original firm, Rudall & Rose, produced simple-system flutes of the
highest quality before they were persuaded by Richard Carte, a student of
George Rudall, to begin production of Theobald Boehm’s early conical flute.
The firm went on to buy the British rights to manufacture Boehm’s 1847
cylindrical flute, which is the basis of the instrument most flute players use
today. Richard Carte, a brilliant businessman, joined the firm as a partner in
the early 1850s and transformed them from a small business producing high-
quality flutes to a hugely-successful concern that produced and sold flutes
and most other instruments as well as publishing books, music and, for eight
decades, The Musical Directory, an annual guide to the music business in
Britain. Rudall, Rose & Carte, as they became, bought the business of
Thomas Key, military musical instrument maker, adding brass and
percussion instruments to their catalogue. In addition to their instruments
and publications, the firm promoted concerts, for a time under the
management of Richard Carte’s son, Richard D’Oyly Carte, who later made
his fortune promoting the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan. The firm became
Rudall, Carte & Company in 1872.
This book is a comprehensive history of the firm and contains detailed
descriptions of the many innovative instruments they made. There are
hundreds of colour photographs of flutes, alto flutes, bass flutes and
piccolos, each shown in at least two views, and where necessary in three or
four views with photographs of details. The firm’s output is shown in
context with photographs of dozens of flutes made by their competitors
including Willis, Prowse, Monzani, Wood, Wylde, ‘Pratten’s Perfected’ by
Boosey & Co., Fentum, Godfroy, Koch, Boehm, Laurent, Gerock, Badger,
Ward, Card, Siccama, Clinton, Lot, Collard and Boehm & Mendler.
The book includes a lavishly-illustrated Gallery containing hundreds of
photographs:
•
Simple-system flutes by George Rudall and by John Mitchell Rose
before they formed their partnership; by Rudall & Rose; by Rudall,
Rose & Carte; and by Rudall Carte
•
Advanced simple-system flutes, including Carte’s ‘Old System’ and
flutes made to Clinton and Siccama systems
Boehm flutes with ring keys, both conical and cylindrical
•
Modern-style Boehm flutes
•
Carte’s 1851 Patent flutes
•
Carte’s 1867 Patent flutes
•
Radcliff flutes
•
Unusual flutes, including those made to special order for the inventors
Mathews, Martin and Welch
Appendices include addresses, dates and serial numbers; workshop
photographs; design features of Rudall Carte flutes; price lists; and fingering
charts.
Published 2011. Hardbound. 336 pages. 264mm by 196mm. Price £75 (75
GBP).
ISBN 978-0-946113-09-5
To order, please email Robert@bigio.com
Reviews of Rudall, Rose & Carte: The Art of
the Flute in Britain
•
The Galpin Society Journal LXV (March 2012)
pp. 201–202. Please click here for a PDF.
•
•
Flutist Quarterly (Fall 2011) pp. 68–69.
Please click here for a PDF.
•
•
Journal of the American Musical Instrument
Society Volume XL (2014). Please click here
for a PDF.
March 2013:
The American Musical Instrument Society
(AMIS) has awarded the Nicholas
Bessaraboff Prize for 2013 for the most
distinguished book-length work in English
to Robert Bigio’s Rudall, Rose & Carte: The
Art of the Flute in Britain.
To order, please email Robert@bigio.com
