The Fisherman and his Flute which the illustrator to the latter author makes a trumpet. In La Fontaine’s French version the instrument is referred to as a ‘musette’ which, since his fable is titled “The Fishes and the Shepherd who Played the Flute” ("Les poissons et le berger qui joue de la flûte", X.10), must refer to the old piccolo oboe. Nevertheless, it was translated as bagpipe by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, in her rendering of his poem. La Fontaine had made of the story an artificial pastoral in which Tircis tried to charm the fishes to the hook of the shepherdess Annette but
Alto flute the bottom octave and a half of its range. It was the favourite flute variety of Theobald Boehm, who perfected its design, and is pitched in the key of G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written). Its range is from G (the G below middle C) to G (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to D. The headjoint may be straight or curved. British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as a bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument known by that name. This