Story of the Flute
silent. In the "Storm" section the piccolo is usedPiccolo in
Beethoven with fine effect. Beethoven was the first to introduce this instrument into a symphony, and he uses it also in the Fifth and
Ninth Symphonies ("like golden braid on tapestry, lending dazzling glitter to the design"), in the overture to Egmont, in his Ruins of Athens, King Stephen, and
Beethoven, Overture to Egmont.
the "Battle" Symphony (op. 94), where he assigns to it "Rule Britannia" and "Marlbrook," the latter in a minor key to typify that the French were defeated. He never uses two piccolos.
In the overture Leonora, No. 3, the flute plays an ascending scale from the low D upwards, followed by aThe Passage
in "Leonora,
No. 3" gay succession of rapid sequences in the upper register. This very prominent passage is written for the first flute only. Owing to the weakness of the low register of the flute, the earlier portion of the ascending scale is not heard as a rule.
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