This site is intended as an educational source for people interested in old flutes. Most of my instruments date from the 19th-Century with a few from the 18th and a few from the 20th. My interest in collecting flutes is to learn about the development of the flute over a wide time span and from various geographical areas. It is divided by Country as that is, for the most part, how the styles of instruments are clustered. My personal strongest area of interest is French flutes which I find to be wonderful musical instruments - although, virtually all flutes are interesting to me and many are superb instruments.
As I come from a performing and teaching background, it is very important to me that my flutes be in playable condition. There are very few flutes on this site that can’t be picked up and played. The sound is really the essence of a flute and having flutes that don’t play always seems disappointing to me. In light of this I have been recording playing examples on most all my flutes. There are a few that either haven’t been restored or have technical reasons I can’t play them adequately. Of course, the quality of flutes varies from one to another depending on whether it was a cheap flute or a fine flute and on many other aspects including how much change it has undergone since it was made. I try to demonstrate as many flutes as possible, even if they don’t work well or are quite out of tune. I still find them interesting.
The majority of the musical material I have chosen to record is quite unknown. There are exceptions, of course, but mostly I try to find “new/old” music that matches reasonably well with the particular instrument being demonstrated. These recordings are not made in a recording studio and are not perfect. In some cases I’m not perfect and in some, the flute isn’t perfect. I think that taken as a whole they form a valuable collection of Demos - mostly played in my living room. Composers include Devienne, Oswald, Nicholson, Berbigieur, LePlus, Klingenbrunner, Cottignies, Lindpainter, Steckmest, Haydn, Leclair, Stanley, and others.
Some of the antique flutes on this site are available for purchase. The “Modern Copies,” however, are my personal collection of instruments I use and are generally not for sale. If there is something you couldn’t live without, you are welcome to ask about it. Please note: I do maintain an ebay store where there are always flutes available My Ebay Store - these flutes are generally fully restored and fine playing instruments.
I now have included a section displaying items from my music and books collection, which are associated with the study or playing of flutes.
I am always happy to provide more information on specific instruments and am available to do lecture/demonstrations on the History of the Flute for schools, flute clubs, conferences, etc. Please feel free to contact me by email. Michael.lynn@oberlin.edu
