-(:giv f=ffI (NEWSLETTER, VOL. VI, No. 4 SUMMER 1981

THE BOEHM CENTENNIALTheobaRE Bochm, 1784-E881

The fl98 1 Convention in Detroit, Michigan is dedicated, under tineguiding spirit of Program Chairman, Alexander Murray9 tO thememory of Theobald Boehm, the man who made the most signifi-cant contribution to the design of the flute and to whom all off us owea debt of gratitude for the fine flute we play today. He is beinghonored both here and in Europe on the 100th anniversary of hisdeath. In addition to the concerts featuring the works of TheobaldBoehm and his contemporaries, many informative talks wiEL be givenadding greatly to the general understanding and awareness ofBoehm,s life and influence. Short half inour talks are planned:Boehm as a Craftsman (Albert Cooper); Accoustics at the time ofBoehm (Arthur Benade); The Boehm flute in Japan (Rye Koizumi);The Boehm Flute in Europe (Trevor Wye); Shades of Boehm,a house,town and environs (James Swain) ; The Boehm-Gordon Controversyquary Louise Poor)a

Boehms, Eludes, Opus 37, were originafly vlitten as four Suitesfor Flute and Piano of six pieces each. Four young Japanese playershave been chosen by competition to present the entire setoMasterclasses by Jacob Berg and William Montgomery are going tobe rmn as demonstrations of Boehm,s pedagogical methods, using histranscriptions of Schubert songs, recently published by Universal.

A fascinating man with a life spanning almost ninety years, Boehmwas an amateur flutist who worked as a goldsmith for his father. Hewent to Switzerland at one point to study music-I)ox construction,which provided him with an excellent training for later experimenta-tion on the flute. In working with metals, he had seen ways to im-prove the smelting process and for a time served as an advisor to theBavarian Iron and Steel Works. His flute playing had reached such alevel that he was appointed to the Royal Opera in Munich, andtravemed extensively as a virtuoso. As will foe demonstrated at theConvention, he was also a composer.

Friday evening9 Past winners Of NFA) s Young Artist CompetitionGory Schocker, Maralyp Denekas and Susan Klick vim perform solocompositions by Boehm with piano. On Friday9s chamber musicconcert, music by contemporaries of Boehm for flute, cedo andpiano will be performed by John Heiss and a group from Boston.

Saturday night,s concert will open with William Bennett playingBoehm, s Gra?#dPo/o#aise, followed by John Wion playing the Dop-pler HG,ngar!.a!# ft!#fusj,. Both Saturday and SundayS orehestral ac-companiments will be provided by the Northwood S)mphonetteconducted by Don Th. Jaeger. The chamber music concert willfeature Felix Skowronek plapring chamber works by Kuhlau, Loderand Spohr. John Loder was an early 19th century composer ofoperas who vIOte the Piano accompaniments for the CCmPOSitiOnSof English flutist Charles Nicolson, without whom the Boehm Flute

Theoband Bochm in 1829 at the age of 35.After a lithograph by ^diidrael Brandmuller.

would never have existed. The sonata to be performed is un-published.

Tfie final concert on Sunday will feature Stephan Preston, Englishflutist, performing the Boehm Coflcerfo, Opus /, on an eight-keyedflute. Shigenori Kudo who won first prize in the first Jean PierreRampal competition of the City of Paris last year will play theMolique Co#cerfo, and William Bennett and Trevor Wye will playDoppler,s Va!/se d!' Z?ne"fra. Linda Chesis, last year,s Young Aftistwinner will close the concert playing Boehm,s ElegJ/, his last COm-position. The chamber music concert will present Rofoert Aitken, PerOien and Marya Martin. Among the works performed will be someBoehm transcriptions of Rossini and Weber pieces for one flute andone alto flute (the G flute being an invention of T. Boehm).

A great tribute to a great man, the convention promises to be amemorable occasiono New repertoire will be heard and informationgained about Boehm,s life and times, and a steflar aITay Of flutistswill be on hand to present the music. And this only describes theBoehm events: the full convention program appears on page 16.

As we go to press, we leam that Ludwig Bohm, great-greatgrandson of Theobald Boehm, will be attending the con-vention.