Richard Carte (23 February 1808 – 1891) was an English flute-maker,flautist and composer. One of his sons was theimpresarioRichard D'Oyly Carte, producer of theGilbert and Sullivan operas.
Carte was born inSilchester, Hampshire. He studied with George Rudall[1] on an eight key "Nicholson" flute. By 1824 he was giving concerts in London both as a soloist and an orchestra player. He married the former Eliza Jones (1814–1885); they had eloped, to the disappointment of her father, Thomas Jones, a clergyman. Two of his six children, Henry W. Carte (1856–1926) andRichard D'Oyly Carte, were both to become important in their own fields: the first as flute-maker and the second for staging theGilbert and Sullivan comic operas.[2] The other children were Blanch (1846–1935), Viola (1848–1925), Rose (1854–1940[3]) and Eliza (1860–1941).[4]
Carte was a popular lecturer on the development of the flute and was secretary of the newly founded "London Society of Amateur Flautists" in 1866. He was a friend ofLouis Spohr, and in 1843 was a member ofJullien's famous band. At the height of his career (1844), he adoptedTheobald Boehm's flute with the open G-sharp, and two years later brought out a manual for it, the copyright for which he sold for £100. His best-known flute pupil was Richard Shepherd Rockstro.[5]
In 1850, he became a partner at the prominent flute-making firm ofRudall, Rose & Co., instigating many improvements and additions to theBoehm system, which culminated in his popular 1867 model.[6] After he became a partner in the business, it changed its name to Rudall, Rose, Carte and Co. and later to Rudall, Carte & Co.[7]
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