Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/243

 one occasion, when the Royal Italian Opera Company was about to perform Lucia de Lammermoor for the début of Mdlle. Fohstrom, the mad scene had not been rehearsed. What was to be done? Barrett was equal to the emergency. Standing outside the prima donna's doubly-locked door during the entre-act he modestly tootled the obligato through the key-hole, whilst the lady warbled the voice part as she dressed!

The principal players of the younger generation are Albert Fransella (b. 1866 in Amsterdam), the well-known soloist of the Queen's Hall orchestra, a virtuoso to his finger-tips, who when quite a lad attracted the attention of Brahms; Eli Hudson, who began the piccolo when aged five and performed in public at seven! a remarkable soloist, gifted with marvellously fluent, clean execution, and extremely powerful, even tone; Vincent L. Needham, the present first flute of the Hallé orchestra, whose rapid double-tongueing once caused a gentleman at a concert to get up out of his seat and walk round the stage to see if there were not another flute-player hid behind the scenes; Frederick Griffith, probably the greatest flautist Wales has ever produced, who by practising always pianissimo attained exquisite delicacy of tone; E. Stanley Redfern, who possesses a rich, smooth tone and remarkable technique; and Daniel S. Wood, of the London Symphony orchestra. Space forbids my mentioning even the names of many other fine players now before the British public.