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Alto flute.
The French label for the alto flute, also printed Flûte en sol (flute in G), plural Flûtes alto. The part is written in treble clef a perfect fourth above the sound.
Also spelled: Flûtes alto, Flûte en sol
French composers made the alto flute an orchestral color: Ravel wrote for the flûte en sol in Daphnis et Chloé, and later French music uses it for veiled, nocturnal lines. Its low octave is warm but soft, so thin the accompaniment to strings or harp and keep it clear of the brass. A flutist usually doubles; allow time to change.
Flûte alto 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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