Content area
Full Text
Compiled by Ludwig Böhm
©2012 Theobald Böhm Archive, Munich
The name of Theobald Böhm (1794-1881)' is known to most modern flutists in the world today. Böhm's flute of 1847 is virtually the flute, played today by millions.
But Theobald Böhm was also a flute virtuoso, composer, teacher, and inventor. Many flutists know several of his earlier works for flute, including the Variations, Op. 4, on Nel cor più, and the Grande Polonaise, Op. 16, plus some of his etudes, particularly Opp. 26 and 37. Only recently have some of Böhm's lovely transcriptions of works by other composers, including Schubert and Beethoven, for flute and piano or alto flute and piano, been republished.
But now all of Böhm's works for flute are available to flutists and scholars.
The complete edition, recently published by the Theobald Böhm Archiv, headed by Ludwig Böhm, Theobald's greatgreat-grandson, is a remarkable addition to both flute scholarship and the flutist's repertoire. (Find the archive at theobald-boehm-archiv-und-wettbewerb.de.) It brings together all 36 original works with opus numbers (Op. 15, unpublished, is missing), and all available transcriptions Böhm made for flute and piano or two flutes and piano (28 total) plus all 25 arrangements for alto flute in G with piano.
Ludwig Böhm enlisted the aid of Swiss flutist and musicologist Raymond Meylan, comparing available published and unpublished sources and publishing in this complete edition the most reliable texts for performance. Böhm started this project in 1981, while preparing an exhibit in Munich for the 100th anniversary of the death of Theobald Böhm. Part Two of the project, still in preparation, will include 19 works dedicated to Böhm, from his contemporaries (including Fürstenau and Lindpainter) to 20th-century composers.
The edition is carefully done; it includes comparisons of various sources and alternatives (except dynamics and articulations) and, in the introduction, information about the first edition, with a listing of subsequent editions, first performance, and dedicatee. The etudes, Op. 37, for example, were first published in 1858 for flute and piano. A separate flute part is included in addition to the score.
Böhm the Man
Theobald Böhm was born in Munich and worked in his father's jeweler's shop starting at age 13. He took flute lessons starting at age 16 with Johann Nepomuk Kapeller (1776-1825)...