Instrument Cases

[Philidor]

Aiiiieeeee I very seldom get consumerist rage - that hungry, acquisitive feeling you see on people's faces in Bond Street - but look at these:











They're boxes by Andrew Crawford.

I was fascinated by boxes, and still am. Isn't everyone? ... boxes contain things and, more importantly, HIDE things from view. Human nature being what it is one naturally wants to know what is inside a closed box - so a natural reflex is to open it, and if it's locked you really want to open it. What is it that is being so carefully protected, or hidden - what can it be that justifies this special treatment, particularly if it is an elaborate and valuable box.

Post up pics of your instrument case! My flute lives in a canvas sack.

[micrologus]

This is the case in which I transport my Flemish bagpipe



Actually it's a gun case

[acowderoy]

Baroque flutes are not too much of a problem easily transportable and mine all live in cloth bags, easily made at home. The boxes look lovely but not much fun to transport!

Renaissance flutes are harder. I once lashed four artists drawing tubes together which worked well but was heavy and looked as if I was carrying ground to air missiles.

I'd heard gun cases suggested, never used them but looks good. I investigated billiard cue cases as well once, same idea, seems like another possibility but never actualy used any.

Currently using some custom soft cases that Boaz Berney has made to his own design. Works for me.

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by acowderoy

Currently using some custom soft cases that Boaz Berney has made to his own design. Works for me.

Me too. But I worry carrying it, say, in a haversack so tend to wrap it in a towel too.

[acowderoy]

Did you notice on Andrew Crawford's site that one of the flute boxes is wrapped ... in a soft case. So now we need a thread about cases to protect the box you put the flute in.

[Philidor]

Frederick the Great's porcelain case + gold key containing his Quantz. How Frederick's father must have hated the sight of it!

[micrologus]

Originally Posted by Philidor

Frederick the Great's porcelain case + gold key containing his Quantz. How Frederick's father must have hated the sight of it!

Why do you think his father must have hated the sight of it? Was the case made in Limoges?

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by micrologus

Why do you think his father must have hated the sight of it? Was the case made in Limoges?

From what I've read Frederick was gay. There's a sad story of him running off with a handsome guardsman, his father catching them and having Frederick's friend executed. I can't quote sources but my impression of Frederick is of a sensitive man, interested in art, beauty, etc., - a sort of eighteenth century musical nerd - and his father holding his 'effeminate' son in contempt, believing he should be involved in 'masculine' pursuits, e.g. drinking, whoring, killing foreigners etc. The flute symbolized Frederick's rebellion against his father so will have been loathed by the old man. Imagine! A son of mine owning a namby-pamby porcelain flute case when he should be out chasing foxes!

[Philidor]

Even some recent biographies continue to exclude any allusion to or hint of his homosexuality. German historians especially have considered it impossible for such a virile and stoic man to have been homosexual, and have regarded the king's reputation for homosexuality as a slight by the French.

Source

[micrologus]

At Sanssouci Frederick entertained his most privileged guests, especially the French philosopher Voltaire, whom he asked in 1750 to come to live with him. The correspondence between Frederick and Voltaire, which spanned almost 50 years, was marked by mutual intellectual fascination. In person, however, their friendship was often contentious, as Voltaire abhorred Frederick's militarism. Voltaire's jealous attack in the press on one of Frederick's literary companions made him no longer welcome in Prussia; on his return to France in 1753 he anonymously published The Private Life of the King of Prussia, wittily claiming Frederick's homosexuality and parade of male lovers. Frederick neither admitted nor denied the contents of the book.

Very interesting

Frederick's physician, Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann, claimed that the king let rumors of homosexuality appear to be true in order to avoid the public knowing that his genitalia were harmed by "a cruel surgical operation" to save his life from an unnamed venereal disease.