Willem Beukers.
There were father and son Willem Beukers. The father lived from1666 to 1750. He was born in Utrecht and lived in Amsterdam. The son was born in Amsterdam in 1703 and lived until 1781. A number of instruments, recorders, oboes and some flutes are still in our possession. Next to the famous Bressan in the Victoria and Albert museum you will find a splendidly carved oboe from Willem Beukers. One flute is in the Den Hague gemeente museum, the other in a private collection in Utrecht. Possibly there is a third flute in the United States. They are splendid examples of Dutch flute making of that period. The Den Hague instrument is completely made of ivory. The Utrecht instrument is boxwood. The Utrecht instrument in my opinion is a really exceptional instrument.
Locatelli's estate: This copy is from the books "Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Der Virtuose und seine welt" by Albert Dunning, Frits Knuf, Buren (no longer existing) 1981, distributors in North America, Pendragon Press, 162 W 13th st, New York, N.Y. 10011
It tells us that Locatelli owned a Beukers flute with ten (!) parts and two
"aanvoegstukjes" (I do not have a clue what
they were, feet?, feet extensions?) as can be
seen in the above account of his estate when he died.
The Beukers copy has a very warm quality with an excellent intonation. a special quality in that respect is the fact that the second octave f and f# practically do not need any compensation for pure thirds on d2. The first octave needs slight compensation but it still compares very favorably with most baroque traverso. However, all my copies have good f and f# intonation.
Original Willem Beukers flute.
