I would have guessed composers in the baroque would love the rich sounds of the bass flute. This is completely my personal opinion, but I'd prefer the bass flute over the bassoon's more nasal sound. My hunch is there was some intonation issues with the flute family that prevented a general adoption by composers. If anyone has more knowledge about this, I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks. Kim -- Kim Patrick Clow I have not seen many references to bass flutes after the development of the baroque flute at the end of the 17th century. With the renaissance flute, as a bass to a flute consort, the compromise over power and intonation has to be put up with. Even at the time, curtal or basso di viola or even trombone were suggested as more suitable instruments for the bass line, with flutes on the other parts. With the baroque redesign of the instrument, the stretch required to have the finger-holes in roughly the right place would be, I suspect (but cannot prove), too great. On the renaissance instrument a combination of angled finger holes and bending of notes would be required. Regards, Michael Lawlor -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://link.mail2web.com/mail2web _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
