Story of the Flute
the difficulty does not tend to pure intonation on the part of the players. Personally I venture to think that much of the charm of the flute—such as we find in the works of the earlier masters—is lost in these whirlwinds of notes and dazzling chromatic scales. Perhaps, however, the composer does not intend that all the notes should be accurately played; possibly he shares the views of Sir Arthur Sullivan, who once at a rehearsal of his Golden Legend, when the 'cellos complained of the great difficulty of their part in the introduction depicting the storm, replied, "Oh, I never expected you to play all the notes of those chromatic scales, but merely to run your fingers up and down the strings so as to give the general effect." After all, it should never be forgotten that the flute is essentially a melodic instrument.
In the light of the passages written for the flute by these modern composers, the following directions given by Charles Avison in his Essay on Musical Expression, published in 1752, are somewhat amusing:—
"In composing for the German flute is required the same method of proceeding by conjoint degrees, or such other natural intervals as, with the nature of its tone, will best express the languishing or melancholy style. With both oboe and flute, the running into extreme keys, the use of the staccato, or distinct separation of notes, and all irregular leaps or broken and uneven intervals must be avoided, for which reason alone these instruments ought never to be employed in the Repieno parts of Concertos for violins, but in such pieces only as are composed for them, and these perhaps would be most agreeably introduced as principal instruments in some interesting movements in the Concerto, which might not only give a pleasing variety, but show their different expression to the greatest advantage" (p. 95).
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