Story of the Flute
highest B♭′′′. The same is the case with Schumann, who hardly ever writes a passage for the low notes. Schumann allots to the flutes, as a rule, either sustained chords along with the other wind, or else chromatic passages. The overture to Manfred has a flute solo of considerable length, and his First Symphony contains several important flute passages: in the andante we find a remarkable shake and cadenza for the flute. The Fourth Symphony has elaborate running passagesPiccolo in
Schumann for two flutes in unison with the violins. Schumann never uses the piccolo in his symphonies; but we find it in Paradise and the Peri (where one in D♭ is used in a difficult passage in D minor), and in several of his overtures. He rarely, if ever, uses the piccolo without the flute, but in his Concertstück for horns (op. 83) he gives it an independent melody whilst the flutes play chords.
Modern
Composers flute have caused modern composers to write very freely for it. They use it often as they would a violin, and think nothing of giving it passages or great technical difficulty, such as the earlier composers would never have dreamed of assigning to it. Moreover, the number used is systematically increased to three (Haydn, Gretry, and Meyerbeer had already occasionally introduced three), and sometimes a piccolo is used in addition. Quantz recommended that an orchestra
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