Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/177

 piccolo and oboe together, then to the flute, and finally to both flute and piccolo. Rossini does not use the piccolo very much, he, however, introduces two in The Bather of Seville at the words "Point de bruit"probably a joke. He seldom gives the flute a solo of any length; several, however, occur in William Tell. The Andantino in that overture is the best known flute passage in the whole range of orchestral music; the flute playing a florid embroidery, as it were, to the Alpine "Ranz des Vaches" on the cor anglais. This passage stands out wonderfully: I have seen a first-rate player from the Hallé orchestra actually trembling with nervousness when he approached it. After the final sustained top G had died away into nothing, he remarked to me, "I never come to that passage without shaking all over like an aspen leaf; if, Overture to William Tell.