Flöte

As Printed on a Score

Flöte (plural Flöten, also Floete) labels the flute staff in German scores, abbreviated Fl.; Mahler heads it with the number of players, Vier Flöten. When flute and piccolo must be told apart, the flute is Große Flöte (gr. Fl.). Changes are printed with nehmen or nimmt: “3. u. 4. nehmen Piccolo-Flöten.”

Abbreviations: Fl.

Also spelled: Flöten, Floete, Flote

How Composers Use It

German Romantic scores grew the flute section to three or four, with players moving between flute and piccolo as the music demands; Mahler and Strauss plan these changes carefully and print each one in the part. Name the player and the new instrument when you write a change, as Mahler does, and leave enough rests for it. Written at pitch, the flute blends easily, so in a large German-style tutti it is mostly heard as color on top of the strings.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement, flute staff (“Vier Flöten.”), m. 211: “3.u.4 Flöte nehmen Piccolo.” — the third and fourth flutists switch to piccolo at a ff marked a.2.

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