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Famous Flutists Who Didn't Quit Their Day Jobs, Part II

© Karen Stafford

In his book My Complete Story of the Flute , Leondardo de Lorenzo devotes an entire chapter to famous amateur flutists. (This book is available through both Amazon Books and Barnes and Noble Online. Some of the most noteworthy include:

• Nicholas II, Czar of Russia
• Count Rebsomen (19th century), a one-armed general who invented a mechanism that enabled him to play only with his right hand
• George Eastman, founder of Kodak. (This could be one reason for his large contribution to Rochester University for the Eastman School of Music).
• Enrico Caruso, who actually made one flute recording. When asked if he would purchase the recording, he said it would be better if he sold the flute instead.
• Noah Webster of Webster's dictionary fame
• Leonardo da Vinci, who was not only proficient on all musical instruments, but also inventor of some (although he was the only one who could play them.)
• John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. He is quoted as saying

  I am extremely fond of music, and by dint of great pains have learnt to blow very badly the flute... I console myself with the idea of being an American, and therefore not susceptible of great musical powers.

  (Although I think there are a great many excellent American musicians who might disagree!)
• Grover Cleveland, another US president, owned a beautiful glass flute with gold keys, but there is no proof that he could play. This instrument is now in the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection.

Speaking of Dayton Miller, he himself was a renowned scientist who took the first surgical X-ray photograph in the United States. He was also an inventor and authority on acoustics. His flute collection comprises over 1,400 flutes made of a variety of materials. He also had the most extensive collection of flute books and literature in the world. His views on flute are as follows:

My motives are far deeper than one supposes. The flute is man's first sound instrument. It follows that a study of the flute is really a study of man.

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For a couple of contemporary celebrities that de Lorenzo might have been interested in: one is somewhat infamous, but I don't think anyone would have suspected him of being a jazz flutist! Dr. Jack Kervorkian has actually recorded eight of his own compositions on a recording titled A Very Still Life. (Interesting title for this man!)

For those TV-savvy folks, Peter Wingfield of Highlander fame is not only an actor, but also plays both flute and Saxophone to studio standards. He also went to medical school!

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