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
Members of the western concert flute family version is usually used for jazz because both the tenor saxophone and clarinet are in B. The alto flute is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. The tube of the alto flute is considerably thicker and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. However, this gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range. It is pitched in the key of G (sounding a fourth lower than written) with its range stretching from G to G. The headjoint may be straight