Ludwig Böhm
● The Life and Work of Theobald Böhm
● Complete Edition of Theobald Böhm’s Works (with R. Meylan & M. Nowotny, 2012)
● Rediscovered 19th-Century Works Dedicated to Böhm (2017)
● Numerous scholarly articles in international flute journals
About Ludwig Böhm
Ludwig Böhm, great-great-grandson of Theobald Böhm (1794–1881), has devoted his life to preserving and promoting the legacy of the inventor of the modern flute system. Based in Munich, he is internationally regarded as the foremost authority on Theobald Böhm’s life, instruments, and compositions.
His journey began in the 1970s with genealogical research and discovery of a 550-page family chronicle. In 1980, Ludwig founded the Theobald Böhm Archive, which grew into a collection of more than 10,000 pages of documents, 300 historical Böhm flutes catalogued, and 50 original instruments acquired. Many are now housed at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
Over four decades, he has published 20 books, 4 translations, and critical editions of all 88 of Theobald’s works, including rediscovered repertoire. He co-edited the Complete Works of Theobald Böhm (2012) with Raymond Meylan and Michael Nowotny, and in 2017 published a 2,000-page collection of 19th-century works dedicated to Böhm.
To support this legacy, he established:
- The Theobald Böhm Archive (1980)
- The Theobald Böhm Society (1990)
- The Theobald Böhm Foundation (2014)
International Contributions
- Founder and director of the International Theobald Böhm Competition (Munich, 2006–present), unique in its focus on the alto flute in G and the open G-sharp key.
- Maintains a public registry of professional open G-sharp players, now including nearly 500 flutists in 23 countries.
- Lectured in more than 20 countries across Europe, the USA, Asia, and Australia, bringing Theobald Böhm’s innovations to the global flute community.
- Collaborates with museums, flute associations, and publishers worldwide to preserve and disseminate historical resources.
Did You Know?
- A street in Munich – Böhmstraße – was named after Theobald Böhm in 1931.
- Ludwig owns three original oil portraits of Theobald and over 160 letters.
- He discovered unpublished alto flute arrangements by Böhm in the Library of Congress.
- Despite Theobald having 54 grandchildren, only one living descendant today is a professional flutist.