Theobald Boehm
Born: April 9,1794
Munich, Germany
Died: November 25, 1881 (age 87)
Munich, Germany
Munich, Germany
Died: November 25, 1881 (age 87)
Munich, Germany
The flute was altered by many people throughout history, but Theobald Boehm a flutemaker, professional flutist in the royal court orchestra in Munich who started out as a goldsmith and jewler made the most important alterations to the flute. Boehm’s flute design received many prizes and France, England and America admired the new improvements. He opened up a factory in 1828 which was where he developed the “Boehm flute” in 1832. His system had levers, keys and rings. The keys allowed the holes on the flute to be as large as needed to achieve good sound without having to worry about the size of hand a flute player has. In addition, Boehm aided in the improvement of other instruments. He improved the piano-stringing design did research in acoustics. Boehm also invented a new iron-smelting process.