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
Western concert flute Blavet, Vivaldi, and Handel. Because of the works of such composers, the flute became popular as a solo instrument. However, there were few professional flutists who had the flute as their main instrument; many had the oboe. In 1707, Jacques Martin Hotteterre wrote the first method book on playing the flute: "Principes de la flûte traversière". The 1730s brought an increase in operatic and chamber music feature of flutes. The end of this era found the publication of "Essay of a Method of Playing the Transverse Flute" by Quantz. The orchestras formed in the last half of the 18th century