Events
Defense of Doctoral Thesis | Maria del Carmen Fuentes Gimeno
31.10.2024 | 10 am | Senate Room, Reitoria da Universidade de Aveiro
Master Maria del Carmen Fuentes Gimeno will defend her doctoral exam in music on October 31st, 2024, at 10 am, in the Senate Room at Reitoria da Universidade de Aveiro. She will defend her dissertation "Not Only Böhm: Alternative Flutes to the Böhm System in Germany from the Second Half of the 19th Century to the First Half of the 20th Century".
PhD Committee:
- Prof. Dr Jorge Domingues Silvestre, Presidente do Júri (CICECO, Universidade de Aveiro)
- Prof.ª Dr Gabrielle Kaufmann (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona)
- Prof.ª Dr Áurea Domínguez Moreno (Hochschule für Musik Basel)
- Prof. Dr Manuel Morales Fernández (Conservatório Superior de Música de Vigo)
- Prof. Dr Luca Chiantore (INET-md, Universidade de Aveiro)
- Prof. Dr Gilvano Dalagna (INET-md, Universidade de Aveiro)
Not Only Böhm: Alternative Flutes to the Böhm System in Germany from the Second Half of the 19th Century to the First Half of the 20th Century
Despite the unstoppable advance of the cylindrical, metal "Böhm system" flute in Europe, the so-called "old-system" flutes, conical and wooden, survived in Germany well into the 20th century. A great advocate of these flutes, the influential flutist Maximilian Schwedler developed and promoted the dissemination of several successive flute models to compete with the Böhm flute in terms of sound volume and technical ease without losing the characteristic sound of the old flutes. The Schwedler flutes greatly impacted German musical life at that time and represented the last bastion of the old system of flutes. Although forgotten today, these flutes represent a milestone in terms of their morphological and sonic characteristics, which resulted in a rich range of timbral subtleties, valued by flutists, conductors, and composers at the time.
This thesis is organized around the search for a personal sound when performing with the old-system flutes that come as alternatives to the Böhm system in Germany, and in particular with the flutes of Maximilian Schwedler. The research project takes these instruments as a starting point and, through an exploration of their organological and timbric specificities (with the corresponding physical and cognitive adaptations), seeks to rethink from a contemporary perspective the sound aesthetics pursued by their inventors and cherished by the flutists of that period. The artistic proposal that is the result of this research thus arises from constant feedback between the stimuli from historical sources and the multiple physical challenges these flutes pose.
This thesis is organized around the search for a personal sound when performing with the old-system flutes that come as alternatives to the Böhm system in Germany, and in particular with the flutes of Maximilian Schwedler. The research project takes these instruments as a starting point and, through an exploration of their organological and timbric specificities (with the corresponding physical and cognitive adaptations), seeks to rethink from a contemporary perspective the sound aesthetics pursued by their inventors and cherished by the flutists of that period. The artistic proposal that is the result of this research thus arises from constant feedback between the stimuli from historical sources and the multiple physical challenges these flutes pose.
Keywords: Flute, history, Schwedler, Old system, Conical flute, Böhm system, Fingering, Sound aesthetics, Tone color, Embouchure
Advisor: Prof. Dr Jorge Salgado Correia (INET-md, Universidade de Aveiro) and Pedro Couto Soares (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa)
Co-advisor: Prof. Doutor Luca Chiantore (NET-md, Universidade de Aveiro)
