S771
C. Rive
#: Serial #356
Paris France

Stamp: (monogram) C over R/ C. Rive/Paris/356 on all joints. Box with monogram: GM.

Comments: Every Rive instrument comes a bit as a surprise, it seems. Rive occupies a space in the flute-tone somewhere just to the side of the plane created by Lot and Bonneville. There is something different about Rive which, unlike Bonneville, evokes the kind of endless voyage that Godfroy, and especially Lot, at their best, offered. Rive has become a cult flute-maker. Very few of his instruments are to be found; when they land in a player's hands who connects with Rive, they tend to stay there. If you play this flute, and do not think that you are entering an endless, beautiful and undiscovered forest path, you are unlikely to join the cult. If you connect with Rive, you will never forget the encounter.Happily, we have two early and lovely Rive flutes here at this moment, this silver one, and a plated one made just about a year later (we presume). Both instruments open doors to tones untouched, yet in very different ways.

Date: Made c. 1883, assuming a production of 50 flutes per year, and a starting year of 1877.

Material: This lovely flute is made of silver, with steel springs. Five or six of the springs are new. The corkscrew is the modern metal rod type. The cork is silver(?) faced.

Hallmarks: Hallmarked with the maker's diamond, L heart C (or G), on lipplate, on body just below name stamp, on foot just below name stamp, under G# touch, and a perfect one under the low C# touch. I believe that a mark on the side of the G# arm is the Parisian Boar's head of silver purity. This is the only incidence of this stamp on the flute. The maker's diamond is new to me, as are the curious placements of the stamp. Perhaps they are later additions?

System: This flute is built in the French model Boehm System with open hole keys, closed G#, C foot, Bb trill. Louis Lot called this the Model 5.

Condition: This magnificent example of Rive's work was apparently a presentation instrument, and has been lovingly used. We cannot guess which of the possible GM's this flute was made for, but we do see that he was very careful. The instrument has come to us with just a few overhauls, a small shortening of the headjoint, and no substantial signs of wear, tear, or abuse. It appears as if this flute acquired a very heavy tarnish from long term storage, which has been hand cleaned. One of the overhauls included a soft solder drip at the G# tone hole, and there is an inexplicable splashlet of solder at the G hole. The lipplate is untouched, the mechanism is tight, the latest overhaul was done elsewhere and touched up here.

Pitch: This flute appears to play at A=440, or just a tad higher.

Sounding length: Original sounding length 601 mm. Current minimum length 597 mm.

Measurements: Embouchure 11.9x10.2 mm. Scale length 227 mm.

Weight gram: 398

Case: In possibly original case.

Restoration status: Previous modestly successful overhaul has been adjusted here, but not redone.

Price: Sorry, sold 11/21/07.

This beautifully preserved flute shows Rive's adherence to Godfroy and Lot's original shoulder clutches for the right hand, as well as the classically ornate pillars.

Rive was a flute sculptor without peer. Of all the students of Godfroy and Lot, Rive was far and above the most artistic. He alone carried the original beauty of the Godfroy-Lot partnership into the next generation, as can be seen in this exquisite G# touch.

I believe this engraving on the barrel reads GM.

All three joints are numbered, as is usual for Rive. Curiously, this flute is hallmarked with a strange maker's diamond right under the body and foot stamps; a very unusual and prominent place to mark a flute.

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The monogram appears to be "GM". Rive's engraving, like all of his aesthetics, is classical, elegant yet gentle, and perfectly executed.

Every bit of Rive's work is perfect. Here the lovely backclutch remains untainted by later repairs. The independent G# seems immovable in it's sculpted perfection.

Rive's lipplate, like the rest of the flute, is perfect in it's design and execution. One can see a sort of softness, almost a feminine quality throughout this instrument.

Rive's exquisite craftsmanship never achieves the redundancies of these captions. His crowns are the best since Godfroy himself.

Rive is the most French of makers. This is a luxury flute, made to complete and perfect precision. Yet there is nothing harsh about Rive's precision; only sensuous beauty of the highest degree.