Pre-Owned Brannen-Cooper 14k Rose Handmade Flute

Our Description

This is a flute with pedigree.

Brannen #55 was made for John Wion when he was Principal Flute of the New York City Opera, and was ordered in 1978, Brannen's first year of incorporation. It was made by Bickford Brannen, widely regarded as one of the finest and most innovative flute makers the world has known, and delivered to John in 1980.

John played this flute between 1980 and 1984, and again from 1996 until John retired in 2007. The gap in playing is due to hand pain that John developed, when he moved to a silver Brannen; however while his silver Brannen was being overhauled, John played this 14k again and his colleagues complimented him on the exceptionally beautiful sound he was getting - and so he returned to playing this instrument.

The ergonomics of the flute - added by Bick Brannen himself - are surprisingly comfortable. All of us in the shop are agreed that this instrument feels great under the fingers, and would especially suit a player with smaller hands. The modifications added by Bick - the touchpiece on the G key, the C key and the finger rest - are all reversible invisibly should the player wish. The lip-plate was recut by Brannen's legendary headjoint maker Elizabeth Watson.

This instrument sounds stunning, and has been played alongside opera legends such as Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne.

The flute includes correspondence between John and Brannen during the ordering of the instrument.

"In April 1980, I played a contracted recital at Kean College with Tom Hrynkiw, and in May, went to Mexico with the opera for performances of Barber of Seville in Guanajuato and Mexico City.

The highlight was a televised performance with Sills singing Rosina. In the lesson scene, she sang the “Ah vous dirais-je maman” variations. Up until now, an actor had mimed this on stage while I played from the pit. But for this performance, I was wigged (gray) and costumed, and doddered onto the stage to play." - John Wion

John Wion Writes...

"In the spring [1980] I acquired a new flute, Brannen Brothers number 55. Bick and Bob Brannen, workmen at the Powell factory in Boston, had decided to start their own company in collaboration with the English flute maker, Albert Cooper, who had been largely responsible for the specifications relating to improved intonation of flutes. The company’s original offering was for gold flutes. Subscribers would pay in advance for the necessary gold, paying the balance when work started on the ordered instrument. I had been tardy placing my order, and my flute was one of the last to be made.

"As the time for construction approached, I had a long conversation with Bick about pos- sible modifications, confiding in him my history of hand problems. After some considerable discussion he said, “Why don’t you change to covered-hole?” I gasped. That was for beginners only; all professionals played the French model, open-hole system. “Not true,” he said. “Many Europeans play covered-hole – indeed the famed Marcel Moyse himself had done so.” Well, I did know that, but I was still reluctant. Finally, after further prodding, including the comment that Cooper believed that covered-hole flutes were acoustically superior, I agreed.

"Then I couldn’t wait for my flute to arrive. Finally, fearful that it had become lost in the mail, I phoned. Bick was most apologetic, and explained one of the reasons they had gone out on their own to make flutes. He believed that a reason for some flutes playing better than others related to the evenness of the tubing. All tubing for flutes is produced commercially, and although it is ordered for a specific thickness, certain spots are slightly thinner.

"Bick felt that if such a spot was situated at a nodal area, that particular note would not resonate at the same fullness as other notes. His plan was to carefully inspect each piece of tubing, and design the flute in such a way that weak spots would be situated where tone holes would be cut, and thus removed from the finished flute. In the case of my flute, they had almost completed it, when they discovered a weak spot they had missed. They had scrapped the flute and started again. I was impressed!

"It was a beautiful flute that finally arrived, though I was not happy with the headjoint and went on using my Cooper head until I had the new one modified. I only played it for a short time, however, deciding that a silver flute with its lighter weight and more brilliant tone was preferable. Then, a decade later [1996], I played number 55 again when my current flute was being overhauled. So many people commented on the sound, that it once again became my first choice.

"I immediately appreciated the comfort of the covered hole system, and noticed how much easier it was to play certain low note combinations, such as in the slow movement of the Prokofiev Sonata. However, it was my left hand that was the current focus of my life. Bick Brannen made me a beautiful thumb crutch to see if that would help, and then a number of angled attachment screws"

— Wood, Silver & Gold: A Flutist's Life by John Wion

General Condition

While this instrument is sold 'as seen' (meaning it has not been inspected in our own workshop), it was recently given an overhaul in New York and is in wonderful playing condition.

Specifications

What's Included

• Original correspondence between John Wion and Brannen Flutes regarding the ordering of the instrument, as provenance
• Original silver C key
• Case
• Cavallaro case cover

Item Details