i recently found 3 old whistles made by Ch.Mathieu in a thrift shop–a soprano D, low D, and a C. i’ve figured out he made whistles, ocarinas, and some other weird-looking flutes in paris c.1900. does anyone else know anything about his instruments? does anyone out there have another mathieu? these three have truly sweet voices.
Those sound very interesting!
Any chance of some photos?
–James
I’ve got one of their flageolets in D (re). The tuning is at best approximate (I’ve heard they were really novelties, not instruments). But it has this cool cork that goes over half the window to change the pitch by a halftone. The tone is really sweet, too, albeit very quiet.
am trying to post a photo of the 3 whistles. any advice on how i do that?
A low D from circa 1900?? Wow!
As for the photo… you can upload it to http://xs.to/ for free and use one of their links to post it.
okay, don’t quote me on the low D. i don’t know for sure. it’s what is sounds like to me… other interetsing note, these three were clearly part of a set. the smallest whistle is numbered “2”, and the others “3” and “4.” obviously there was a “1” once too. any idea what it might have been?[/img][/code]](http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs63&d=06023&f=mathieuwhistles1.JPG)[/img]
WOW! Interesting mouthpiece! They are beautiful to look at. I too wonder what the #1 was. Great find!!
(edited to correct spelling… I tipe gud!)
they are very pretty. according to one source i found on mathieu, they’re probably nickel-plated pot metal. the mouthpieces on the 2 bigger ones are different-- they take some getting used to. hard to bite, if that’s what you do. and as with charlie’s, they are very quiet, but very sweet sounding. i wonder if charlie might post a picture of his flageolet and its mysterious cork thing?
The smallest does look like a whistle. The two larger ones are flagolets. I have never played one so I cannot guide you there.
Based on the ruler you put in the picture I can safely say that there is not a low (tenor) d in that group. What are the measurements of the instruments from the exit of the windway to the bell end?
I had a C sharp (although it probably was a D at the old concert pitch) like that once, bought for a fiver in an antique shop. Was a nice enough whistle (not one of the flageolet jobbies). I gave it away, story I told often before here, Micho Russell went off with it.
steven (or anyone), what do you mean by the exit of the windway to the bell end?
The windway is the “tube” that you blow the air through. If you look at the top of the instruments (the tone holes are on the top) there is a small rectangular opening. The area of this rectangle that is closest to the end where you blow is the exit of the windway. The other side is called the ramp and is shaped to some sort of a knife edge.
The relative lengths will help determine the key of each one. If you have a tuner, cover all holes and play the bell (lowest) note and see what the tuner tells you. That would be most accurate.
Hope that helps.
thanks, steve. if i read you right, the measurement from the exit of the windway to the end of the bell is 10-1/8 inches for the largest whistle/flageolet. (that’s assuming that the end of the bell is the bottom of the last hole??)
for the middle instrument, it’s 8-15/16th inches.
for the little whistle, it’s 8-7/16ths inches.
does that tell you anything?
Not the bottom of the last hole, the absolute end of the whistle.
The tone holes seem pretty uniform in size and spacing compared to the usual whistles. Do these play in tune to themselves?
Tony