Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/144

 Bach frequently combines oboes with flutes, often in unison, sometimes in harmony. He very rarely combines the flute with a single stringed instrument obligato, although the combination of flute and violin, or flute and violoncello piccolo (No. 115)—and also of flute and horn—are very occasionally to be met with in the cantatas. In the chorales to his Passions and elsewhere the flutes, first oboe, and first violins as a rule play the same part as the soprano voices—the flutes being an octave above the voices; but in some choruses the flutes play the same part as the tenor voices, just as in some of the instrumental portions they play along with the violas, the violins and oboes playing the top part. This treatment of the flute as a tenor instrument is very remarkable. He occasionally makes effective use of the low holding notes, and frequently writes passages on the low register, which, if played under modern conditions as regards the balance of strings and wind, would be quite inaudible. Probably he doubled them on the organ, or very possibly several flutes played the same part—a custom which was quite usual in early times; we frequently find the directions "All the first flutes," "All the second flutes." In order to obtain the proper balance of tone in the works of Bach's era the orchestra should contain nearly as many flutes as first violins. When played by the huge orchestras of to-day, many of the delicate wind passages in the works of the great composers of the past are completely drowned by the mass of strings—e.g., the flute turns in the first movement of Beethoven's