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Recorder.
The specific Italian name for the recorder, abbreviated Fl. dolce, plural Flauti dolci. Baroque scores more often write just Flauto (or Fiauto) and expect a recorder; modern editions may clarify with Blockflöte or recorder. Sizes matter for reading: the alto (treble) recorder is written at pitch, the soprano (descant) an octave below the sound.
Abbreviations: Fl. dolce
Also spelled: Blockflöte, Flûte à bec, Flauti dolci, Blockflöten
A soft, pure, lightly breathy tone with almost no dynamic range — playing louder also makes it sharper — so it needs a quiet setting: continuo, strings or other recorders. Bach scored pairs of recorders for tender or funereal moments; Handel wrote sonatas and obbligatos for it, and Vivaldi concertos. In a modern piece specify the size (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and treat it as a chamber color; it cannot hold its own against a full orchestra.
Flauto dolce is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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