Lizzo performed James Madison’s 200-year-old crystal flute at her Washington, DC live performance

USA Prime Time
 — 

Ever the pioneer, Lizzo crossed off one other first through the Washington, DC cease of her tour – enjoying an roughly 200-year-old crystal flute that belonged to a former US president.

The “About Damn Time” singer and achieved flutist fastidiously performed the fragile woodwind, which was despatched as a present to James Madison in 1813 by the French flute maker Claude Laurent. The Library of Congress has maintained the flute in its vault for many years earlier than permitting Lizzo to play it onstage.

In footage shared by concertgoers, Lizzo excitedly and delicately dealt with the flute underneath the cautious watch of Library employees and Capitol Police. She briefly shared the historical past of the flute along with her viewers and mentioned she was “the primary particular person to ever play it.”

“B***h, I’m scared,” she mentioned to the viewers’s laughter. “It’s crystal. It’s like enjoying out of a wine glass, b***h, so be affected person.”

She performed a be aware on the crystal flute, pausing excitedly after it made a sound, based on a video Lizzo shared on social media. Then, she blew just a few extra fluttery notes on it, cautiously twerking as she performed, as is her signature. After just a few seconds, she held the flute excessive within the air, victorious, and thoroughly returned it to the employees ready just a few toes away.

“B,***h, I simply twerked and performed James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s,” she mentioned incredulously. “We simply made historical past tonight!”

Lizzo then thanked the library for “preserving our historical past” and reminded her followers that “historical past is freaking cool.”

Earlier this week, the Library of Congress invited Lizzo to go to its assortment of 1,700 flutes, the biggest on the earth, per the Library. She fastidiously performed the flute there first earlier than she “serenaded workers and some researchers” with a “extra sensible” woodwind, the Library mentioned.

Lizzo requested the Library if she might play the famed flute for just a few moments throughout her Washington present, and the Library obliged, although it despatched Capitol Police and a number of other different staffers in control of safety together with the flute to make sure its security.

The current Emmy winner usually performs the flute throughout her live shows and has experimented with different uncommon and precious flutes, including an 18k-gold instrument, although she’s partial to at least one woodwind named Sasha Flute.

The flute is exceptionally uncommon: the Library of Congress has 20 Laurent-made flutes in its vault, nevertheless it’s solely one among two fabricated from crystal, based on the Library. Madison’s custom-made flute contained a silver joint, engraved along with his identify.

But its journey to the Library’s assortment was circuitous and took over 100 years. The flute could have been saved by first girl Dolley Madison through the White House fireplace in 1814, the Library mentioned. It got here into the possession of Dolley Madison’s son from her first marriage, John Payne Todd, who bequeathed it to Washington-based Dr. Cornelius Boyle.

Boyle’s descendents allowed the flute to be displayed in 1903 on the US National Museum, an unique a part of the Smithsonian Institution, till Dayton C. Miller, one other doctor and woodwind fanatic, bought it. He later donated the crystal flute, together with 1,700 devices, to the Library in 1941, the place the flute has remained till its stage debut with Lizzo.