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Roberto Bando, Historical Flutes

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Nederland
The Hague
Roberto Bando, Historical Flutes

Traverso Maker: Construction and repair of Historical Flutes
Traverso Player Kirst, Tomas Lot, Tortochot, etc. plus several Classical and Romantic instruments.

MODELS & PRICES 2021

I'm a player and maker of historical transverse flutes based in The Hague, the Netherlands. I combine my experience as performer and my technical training to make instruments that meet the demands of professional flutists in the field of Early Music. Within the few years I have produced flutes commercially, my instruments have been played by traverso players in ensembles like

: Orchestra of the 18th Century, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, Holland Baroque Society, Bach Collegium Japan, Ensemble Pygmalion, B'Rock, De Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht, Le Concert de la Loge, New Dutch Academy and many others. Repairs and restorations

Flutes belonging to players like Wilbert Hazelzet, Kate Clark, Jed Wentz, Barthold Kuijken, Tami Krausz, etc. have been trusted to me for repairs.I also have carried out restorations and repairs on precious 18th Century originals from makers like August Grenser, Gottlieb Crone, August Crone, F.G.A. Below I attach an overview of my ongoing production and projects.
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MODELS & PRICES 2021

Godfridus Adrianus ROTTENBURGH style flute
Collection Frans BRÜGGEN, Amsterdam
The outstanding twin set of flutes by G.A.ROTTENBURGH (1703-1768) in the Brüggen collection, could be dated few years earlier than the widely copied instrument made by the same maker owned by B.Kuijken (Flute from late baroque-preclassical era). Different than the latter, shows features found on early baroque traversi and a clear influence by I.H. Rottenburgh. Available in pitch: A415 Hz (reduction) or A400Hz (original)
- Made in natural (like the original) or acid stained European Boxwood, Imitation ivory rings. Silver key €1,400
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Godfridus Adrianus ROTTENBURGH
Collection Barthold KUIJKEN, Gooik (After 1756, Brussels)
Pitch: A415 Hz
- Natural boxwood. Alpaca key €1,200
- Made in acid stained European boxwood,
imitation ivory rings. Silver key €1,400
- With additional screw cork and foot register €1,550
- Adapted student model with two left hands in
A440Hz & A415Hz. Natural boxwood & alpaca key €1,450
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Johannes Hyacinthus ROTTENBURGH
After Instrument Nr.2001 in MIM Brussels
Pitches A392 Hz OR A400 Hz OR A415 Hz (reduction)
- Made in acid stained boxwood or grenadilla or
Ebony, imitation ivory rings. Silver key €1,400
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Heinrich GRENSER style flute
After several instruments in Dresden, Berlin and Frankfurt
Pitch: A430 Hz
- Made in acid stained Boxwood or grenadilla or
Ebony. Imitation ivory rings. Silver key €1,400
- With additional screw cork and foot register €1,550
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Carlo PALANCA
After instrument in the collection of P.Spohr, Frankfurt. Pitch: A415 Hz OR A440 Hz (reduction)
- Made in acid stained boxwood or grenadilla or
Ebony. Silver key €1,400
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Carlo PALANCA
In the style of instruments at Pistoia’s Cathedral, Italy and Stockholm
With two left hands at A415 Hz AND A440Hz (reduction)
- Made in acid stained boxwood or grenadilla or
Ebony. Silver key €1,650
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Jean Jacques TORTOCHOT style flute
After instrument in Montréal (Ex. Ph.Suzanne). Available in pitch: A415 Hz
- Made in grenadilla or ebony, imitation ivory rings. Silver key €1,400
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HOTTETERRE
After instrument in the Universalmuseum Joanneum
in Graz, Austria. Pitch: A392 Hz

J.L.R. HOTTETERRE
After instrument in the Cité de la Musique, Paris. Pitch: A392 Hz

PRICES Hotteterre (Graz or Paris):
- Made in natural boxwood, alpaca key € 1,450
- Made in acid stained boxwood, ebony
or grenadilla. Imitation ivory rings, silver key € 1,550
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Baroque piccolo in the style of I.H. ROTTENBURGH
After instruments in Berlin Musical instrument Museum
and MIM Brussels. Pitches A415 Hz or A392 Hz
Piccolo in A392 possible to play in A400 with extra head piece

Baroque piccolo in the style of J.WILLEMS
After instrument in MIM Brussels. Pitch A415 Hz

Piccolo after Nicolas VIENNEN
After instrument in the Cité de la Musique, Paris. Pitch: A430 Hz OR A415 Hz

PRICES piccolos I.H. Rottenburgh, Willems, Viennen:
- Made in natural boxwood, alpaca key € 850
- Made in acid stained or natural boxwood,
imitation ivory rings , silver key. € 950
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Flauto Terzetto (Small traverso in F) in the style of
J.A. CRONE
After instrument in Den Haag
Available pitches A440 Hz OR A430 Hz OR A415 Hz
-Made in natural boxwood, alpaca key € 1,000
-Made in acid stained boxwood, silver key* € 1,100
- *Same with imitation ivory rings € 1,230
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Renaissance flutes in the style of Bassano
Made in acid stained Maple. Pitch A440 Hz or A415 Hz. Sizes:
- Soprano in G (also available in A 415Hz) € 650
- Tenor in D € 750
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“Warder” flute
Renaissance flute after a very early instrument discovered in 2017 in the Netherlands. Made in acid stained maple and two large brass rings. Pitches A387 Hz OR A392 Hz € 930
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Pito Herreño - Beaudin
Flute with a head piece with conical bore and body with cylindrical bore, after traditional instruments in Canary Islands and the “modern traverso” developed by J.F. Beaudin. It works with baroque fingerings. Loud sound. Available with or without D # key. Pitch A440 Hz. Audio & Video samples in a page exclusively dedicated to this new flute:
https://www.facebook.com/VientosdeSalmor/

Prices with one key:
Flute in G € 1,100
Flute in E (Same as a third flute in F in A415hz) € 1,200
Flute in D € 1,250
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Coming soon:
Baroque piccolo after Jakob Denner
Collection P. SPOHR, Frankfurt. Pitch A400

Traverso after Giuseppe CASTEL
Collection P. Spohr, Frankfurt. Pitch: A440 Hz
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The current waiting time if placing an order is of about 9 months. To confirm an order, a non-refundable deposit of 20% of the total price is required. All instruments have a FULL two year warranty on materials and on any hidden construction defect.

22/12/2024

Flutes after Hotteterre
A photo album with some examples of a traverso model Hotteterre that I developed a few years ago after two originals located at Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz, Austria and at the Cité de la Musique in Paris.
After various trials, the final result combines elements from both specimens: The flute in Paris, made in boxwood and ivory, is missing the foot piece but provides great insights concerning the bore of the head piece, embouchure hole, outer dimensions and overall undercutting. The instrument in Graz, made in ebony and ivory, has a bit of a compromised head piece, distorted after about three centuries but the foot and middle pieces work very well.
To me, the best proof that both instruments are certainly related is the fact that they work very well by interchanging elements from one another.
The shown instruments were made in the last years in pitch a=392 Hz, crafted in boxwood (acid stained or natural), ebony or grenadilla. The ornamental ferrules and caps are made either in a dense ivory imitation resine or in boxwood, inspired by P. Naust.

09/12/2020

Traverso after Joannes Hyacinthus (Jean-Hyacinth) Rottenburgh (MIM-Brussels, No. 2001), Pitch A=400 Hz.

There are various surviving transverse flutes by I.H. Rottenburgh but this is the most famous one. It is among the best baroque flutes that have come down to us and it is probably one of the earliest traversi built in 4 sections. The proportions show a general three-part "French" flute design (Hotteterre Style) but with a body cut in two parts: long head piece, short left hand piece and continuous conical bore between left and right hands (No abrupt "step" between those parts).
I measured the original in 2016, It plays right at A=400Hz.
I recently revised my early "faithful copy" to make intonation adjustments and an alternative head piece reconstruction (A large section of the original head's bore has become quite oval after nearly 3 centuries)

This model can be heard in a November 2020 production of Rameau's "Hippolyte et Aricie", performed at the nice historical pitch of A=400 Hz, along with two newly developed I.H. Rottenburgh piccoli I made especially for Ensemble Pygmalion's project:
https://www.opera-comique.com/fr/saisons/saison-2020/hippolyte-aricie?utm_medium=bitly&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=2020-hippolyte

29/11/2020

Flute History News: "The Warder flute"

On November 27th 2020, the oldest Renaissance transverse flute found in the Netherlands, was presented in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.
Recovered in 2017 from a shipwreck in Markermeer, close to the village of Warder, it belongs now to the list of earliest surviving transverse flutes of the western culture.
The archaeological analysis of the ship's materials dates the vessel back to 1536; on board, various artifacts of much earlier origin were found (such as coins from 1490's). Therefore, it is fair to say that this recently discovered flute was made decades before the "Nova Zembla flute" from ca.1590, now in the Rijksmuseum.

Other remarkable features:
- It is the first tenor size instrument found with a long brass tube at the blow hole's end, quite matching the woodcuts of Virdung (1511, the earliest music treatise) and Agricola (1529, 1542).
Were the lines close to the blow holes in the treatises' illustrations an indication of metal tubes? Two of the earliest surviving tenor flutes have two peripheral metal rings (Rafi and Bassano), however none of them is a match to the Warder flute.
- It is the First Renaissance flute known with a pitch around A=386-388 Hz, and a sound length of 604 mm.
- Miraculously, a piece of paper with a fragment of text in gothic German survived inside the brass tube. No less amazing is the fact that the font is very similar to the ones used in Virdung and Agricola's books. A specialized study revealed the text was printed by pre-1550's German or Swiss publishers.

The flute's materials are in a good preserved state despite being under water for nearly 500 years. Its general construction is easily comparable to some of the best Renaissance flutes. However, there is considerable damage: various cracks, perforations, partially destroyed embouchure hole, chipped wood around finger holes and huge distortion in the bore and outside diameters.
Due to the challenges to manually measure the bore, I recommended the Dutch archaeological staff to make CT scans of the instrument. Given the current state of technological possibilities, the overwhelming amount of accurate data obtained would have been enough to 3D print the distorted and nonfunctional instrument but the goal was to make a well working flute following traditional methods.
Some Dutch media stated that an "exact" replica was made, but it was actually a work of reconstruction. I tried three bore and wall possibilities, recreated the embouchure hole and refined tuning by revising the finger holes and their undercutting. After some trials, the winners were two flutes, one with a "thin" bore, another one with a "fat" one, given by the gamma of possibilities by the 2mm+ inner deformation.

I am very grateful to Kate Clark for her assistance to test the prototypes, and for presenting my reconstruction so beautifully.

Non Dutch speakers can get a further good idea using Google Translate to read the following reports:

Small report with short Audio of the flute and video (in Dutch)
https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/276829/opgedoken-fluit-van-warder-schittert-na-500-jaar-waarschijnlijk-van-zeeman-geweest

NRC's piece:
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/11/27/oudste-nederlandse-dwarsfluit-speelt-als-kus-uit-de-zestiende-eeuw-a4021698

The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands' piece:
https://www.cultureelerfgoed.nl/actueel/nieuws/2020/11/27/oudste-fluit-van-nederland-gepresenteerd

26/09/2020

🙂

07/08/2020

Baroque Piccoli after J.Willems. Pitch a=415 Hz. Made in acid stained and natural boxwood, silver key, imitation ivory rings.

Little is known about J.Willems besides being active in Brussels probably in the second half of the 18th Century and perhaps related to Jean Baptiste Willems, himself an apprentice of the Rottenburghs.
In 2014 while looking for baroque piccoli examples, Bart Kuijken suggested I give a try to make the J.Willems in Brussels. In 2015, I made my first prototype and model of this piccolo after data from late Andreas Glatt and generous help of Jean Francois Beaudin.
Enchanted by its playing properties, I decided to take my own measurements and design my own version too.
In 2016 I measured the original Nr.1060 at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels. lt has a relatively wide bore and thin walls (compared to 19th Century piccoli). It is equipped with two bodies at pitches around a=430 Hz and a=440 Hz. In my opinion, the overall features of a Baroque style instrument regardless the high pitches.
After some puzzling, in 2018 I managed to come up with my own adaptation at "modern" baroque standard pitch of a=415 Hz without making major alterations.
In its short life, this J.Willems version has been used by flutists in Europe in concerts, audio, video and CD recordings with baroque ensembles like Le Concert d'Apollon, New Dutch Academy, Le Concert de la Loge, Bremen Baroque Orchestra, Orkiestra Historyczna, Holland Baroque, etc.
In the pictures a last batch of three instruments.

01/03/2020

LA FOIRE ARRIVE CE LUNDI À BRUXELLES !!! Vous pouvez déjà consulter la liste de tous les exposants qui seront présents. Nous avons hâte d’y être !
https://sites.google.com/a/musiqueancienne.be/activites-departement/evenements/foire-au-vents-2020---exposants

EN
THE FAIR STARTS THIS MONDAY IN BRUSSELS!!! You can already see the list of the exhibitors who will be present. Looking forward to meeting them!
https://sites.google.com/a/musiqueancienne.be/activites-departement/evenements/foire-au-vents-2020---exposants

23/02/2020

Some results from unforgettable research days in Frankfurt:
Two flutes after Carlo Palanca (Collection P.Spohr) Pitch A415Hz in Acid Stained Boxwood and Grenadilla. Silver keys and imitation ivory rings.

03/01/2020

In the pictures some photos of Viennen (or Winnen) piccoli I build last year in natural boxwood, imitation ivory rings and silver key.
The original probably dates from a time before 1811 or last decade of the 18th Century.
Though the original plays at around A=427 Hz, adjustements to make it work at A=430Hz to serve the needs of the current "Classical pitch" were minimal.
When matching the Winnen’s playing properties to musical requirements in repertoire such as Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Beethoven’s pre-1813 compositions like various marches, 5th & 6th symphonies, Egmont ouverture, etc. I can well imagine these types of works originally called for a 1-keyed piccolo similar to the Viennen.

03/01/2020

Original Piccolo by Nicolas WINNEN (End 18th c-early19th c).

In 2016 I had the chance to measure a Classical- early Romantic piccolo made by Nicolas Winnen (17?-1833) -also spelled VIENNEN in instruments’ stamps- located at the Music Museum within the Philharmonie de Paris.
The approximate pitch is A=427/428Hz and has a clear response and attack. The sound is penetrating but charming, features probably given by its headjoint’s peculiar thick walls (when compared to earlier piccolo models) and the nicely cut embouchure. The intonation between notes is remarkably good. It is made of a tropical wood I was not completely able to identify: I believe not the case of cocus, cocobolo nor lignum vitae but rather some sort of Palisander. The late Claire Soubeyran measured it long before me and stated it was made of grenadilla. However the light color and open grain do not correspond to any type of black wood I’ve worked with or seen before. The museum had not carried out an analysis of the material yet.
After searching and trying other 1-keyed originals in private collections built around the same period -H. Grenser in Frankfurt, C.Doke in Northern Italy (Tyrol), Raingo in Brussels- the Winnen in Paris was in my opinion the best.

24/10/2019

Two flutes in the style of Heinrich Grenser (1764-1813). Pitch A=430 Hz.
Made in grenadilla, imitation ivory rings, silver key.

09/08/2019

“Baroque Flute for Children” and Flute in F in Pitch A=415 in the style of CRONE

Inspired by my original J.A.Crone in F, last year I developed two versions:
An A=415 model and a “Kinderflöte” model.

The Children flute has the same features as my regular third flute but four holes have been placed closer to each other to facilitate small fingers reach. Thus the position of holes 1, 3, 4 and 6 has been adjusted by means of angled drilling (Following the example found on some renaissance flutes, recorders, baroque oboe/bassoons, etc.)

In the photos I show the differences between the two models. They were made in natural boxwood with silver key.

A short demo with two of my flauti terzetti playing "recorder" repertoire (Beginning Recit. No. 18 Oh Schmerz from J.S.Bach’s Matthew Passion) can be heard on:

https://youtu.be/iDvOFh3szQg

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Johan Gramstraat 52
The Hague
2522XA

Telefoon

+31629110833

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