Flauto-Piccolo in Bach
toral Symphony and the flute and bassoon passages in the finale to Mozart's Symphony in C.
I have only noticed two instances in the cantatas of the use of the "flauto piccolo" (probablyFlauto-
Piccolo
in Bach a small flute-à-bec); in No. 96 it is given a very florid part, without any flute; and in No. 103 it is employed to express the joy of the world, in the midst of which the flute interjects a short melancholy motif by way of contrast.
Bach has, in his flute parts, anticipated almost every device adopted by more recent composers, save that he
Bach, Suite in B minor.—Polonaise.
does not give it chromatic passages and uses accidentals very sparingly. He has used it to express grief, melancholy, softness, delicacy, feebleness, also as a pastoral instrument and expressive of joy and mirth; even occasionally to depict the supernatural and the anger of the Gods. He rarely introduces a flute into his purely instrumental writings. The Suite in B minor
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