Le Mécanisme du flûteur automate - Vaucanson, Jacques de 1709-1782 (Paris Guerin, 1738)
Frontispiece is missing
manuscript note on title page "de lacademie des (? ...) originaire de Grenoble . Valler h"
In 1737, Vaucanson built The Flute Player, a life-size figure of a shepherd that played the tabor and the pipe and had a repertoire of twelve songs. The figure's fingers were not pliable enough to play the flute correctly, so Vaucanson had to glove the creation in skin. The following year, in early 1738, he presented his creation to the Académie des Sciences.Johann Joachim Quantz, court musician and long-time flute instructor to Frederick II of Prussia, discussed the shortcomings of Vaucanson's mechanical flute player. In particular its inability to sufficiently move the lips resulted in the necessity of increasing the wind pressure for the upper octaves. Quantz discouraged this method as producing a shrill, unpleasant tone.
Ex libris Alfred Cortot (plate)
Présenté à Messieurs de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Par M. Vaucanson, Auteur de cette Machine
Keywords: Académie Royale des Sciences (Paris, France); 18th Century (1701-1800); Mechanical device; Flute; France; artikulatie; muziekautomaten; echoeffect; kwaliteit van uitvoering; toonkwaliteit