I had initially thought that I would come up with a catchy, modern name for my version of this flute, and I went through several. Perhaps for the best, the world narrowly avoided getting another forgettable Mozart model, a Conservatoire, or, worse, a Concerto. The truth is that this instrument has had a name from the beginning. ‘Bloom Flute’ was the informal, unspoken, clunky working title for my project to copy this anonymous 18th century traverso owned by the flautist Peter H. Bloom in Cambridge, MA. Nameless and unstamped, I needed some way to refer to it, and ‘Bloom Flute’ just stuck.

Peter H. Bloom found the original flute in a Pennsylvania antique store in 1977. The flute is unsigned but quite beautifully made, and both of us agree that the flute is possibly German and from the later 18th century. The bore is very similar to some flutes made by Carl August Grenser of Dresden (1720-1807), and the owner notes that other elements feel reminiscent of flutes from that region of Germany as well. Two features of this traverso worth noting are the moderately large embouchure hole with straight undercutting, and the long footjoint with its unique and beautifully subtle key baluster. The body is made of European Boxwood with mounts seemingly made of horn, though looking at them up close it also is possible that they are bone. With the original center, the flute plays approximately 50 cents flat of A=440.

Shortly after purchasing it, Peter had this flute restored by the great flutemaker Roderick ‘Rod’ Cameron, who repaired cracks in the headjoint and replaced a broken ring with ivory. Cameron also made a corps de rechange to play at A=415 and added a screw cork. At this lower pitch, the flute plays excellently and with great intonation from low D to high A - and, as Peter can tell you, up to high C if you’re feeling brave. The high register and tone with the original center is also excellent. This corps de rechange allowed Peter to use this flute as his primary traverso for baroque music through his career. Though the flute plays at a high pitch as-found, both he and I wonder if the flute originally had another center at a lower pitch. While a high pitch is not unusual, and the original center has not been shortened, it shows far less wear than the other parts, which suggests that it was used less and was perhaps part of a corps de rechange with a longer primary center that is now lost. Additionally, the long footjoint makes the lowest note somewhat flat with the original center. Though that is also not necessarily unusual, I also believe that the hole positions of the heartpiece and foot make more sense at a lower pitch, if not exactly A=415 then somewhere close by. The intonation of the lowest note is much better at a lower pitch, too. I wondered briefly if this flute might have come from England instead of Germany. While the bores of English flutes seem to be mostly different, the long footjoint as well as certain other dimensions feel reminiscent of English flutes. However, these similarities can be found in flutes from other places as well. At the moment, I agree with Peter that the flute is likely German.