Tenor Recorder
about 1800 (Made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
George Goulding set up his business in St James Street, Covent Garden, London in 1786. Between about 1800 and 1835 he traded under various names and partnerships, including Goulding & Co, and produced fine woodwind instruments. By about 1800 the recorder had been largely replaced by the transverse flute in orchestral music, so this instrument would have seemed rather old-fashioned. This example terminates in a flute-like tube rather than a cone, which was more typical of recorders. The aim was probably to make it sound more like an orchestral flute.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Turned, drilled and stained boxwood pipe and mouthpiece. |
| Brief description | Stained boxwood, Goulding & Co., English, about 1800. |
| Physical description | 'Stained boxwood in three joints. There is also a beehive-shaped removable cap with a blowing hole at the top. Under the cap, the top of the head is cut away to leave a 1.4 cm space, presumably to contain a sponge. The foot joint is shaped as in flutes of the period (as in 20/8 [Museum no. 695-1883]). A hole has later been pierced in the cap, perhaps for affixing a membrane which would give a buzzing sound when the player hummed whilst playing.' - Anthony BainesCatalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments(London, 1998), p. 87. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Goulding & Co (Stamped. on the top joint.)
|
| Object history | This instrument was bought by the museum in 1882 for 15 shillings (£0.75). It had been part of the collections of Carl Engel (1818-1882), an eminent musicologist from Hanover, who published the Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the South Kensington Museum, in 1874. The South Kensington Museum was renamed Victoria & Albert Museum in 1899. |
| Summary | George Goulding set up his business in St James Street, Covent Garden, London in 1786. Between about 1800 and 1835 he traded under various names and partnerships, including Goulding & Co, and produced fine woodwind instruments. By about 1800 the recorder had been largely replaced by the transverse flute in orchestral music, so this instrument would have seemed rather old-fashioned. This example terminates in a flute-like tube rather than a cone, which was more typical of recorders. The aim was probably to make it sound more like an orchestral flute. |
| Bibliographic reference | Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p. 87. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 285-1882 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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