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
Contrabass flute the contrabass retains the facility for trills, as found elsewhere in the flute world. Ease of arpeggiation is moderate and thus equivalent to the rest of the flute family. The upper registers (middle C and above) lack the strength of tone found in its cousins; the strongest register is arguably that between G and G. Though the upper register can lack strength, its sensitivity and lyricism can be used to great effect; and a good instrument can readily reach the high A or B (above middle C). The 'haunting' low register (below G) has similar qualities to the bassoon, and