Story of the Flute
horn, and bassoon, which were once fashionable in Paris, says Berhoz, who terms them "cold." When one of them was performed in London not long ago, it was described in the programme as "one of Reicha's best works," which (said a critic) made one shudder to think what his inferior compositions might be! Taffanel has written a delightful little quintett for these five instruments, and many other modern composers, including Joseph Holbrooke, have adopted this form.
Larger combinations are, however, more effective, especially if composed of both wind and strings, whichFor Wind
with
Strings affords scope for fuller harmonies and greater variety of tone-colour, and also relieves the monotony of wind alone. Spohr, Hoffmeister, Pleyel, Onslow, and Lachner amongst older composers; and Hoffmann, Rheinberger, Reinecke, Novacek, Raff, Dubois, and Richard Strauss amongst the moderns, have all written works for a number of instruments (varying from eight to thirteen), including one or two flutes. Strauss' melodious work (op. 7), in a single movement, shows no sign of his later style of polyphonic writing, and is remarkable as including the contra-fagotto, which unwieldly instrument had already been used in chamber music by Mozart and Dvořák. I have met with the piccolo in only one chamber work—namely, Dubois' Suite for seven wind instruments.
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