In the First Symphony the flutes have prominent solo parts in the Adagio, "Black land, foggy land," and in the Second Symphony we find a remarkable chromatic passage of eighteen bars' duration for the two flutes, accompanied only by strings pizzicato. He also uses the piccolo in all his symphonies, and allots it solo passages in the second and fourth.
Tschaïkowsky, Fourth Symphony Scherzo.
The ultra-modern school of composers have absolutely no mercy on either the fingers or the lungs ofR. Strauss the unfortunate flautist. Richard Strauss generally employs three flutes (often with a piccolo in addition), and he frequently assigns to all three parts finger-twisting passages of enormous difficulty. One of the characteristics of this school is to write passages of almost, if not quite, equal difficulty and importance for each of the flutes. These parts are often curiously interwoven. Some previous composers had occasionally given an important and difficult part to the second flute, as in Dvořák's Spectre's Bride and in Berlioz's Carnival Romain overture; but Strauss almost habitually exacts as much from his second and third flute-players as from his first. Thus in his Ein Heldenleben all three flutes have passages of extreme difficulty: he gives the third flute a passage running
