The
alto flute is a type of
Western concert fluteThe Western concert flute or C flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute...
, a
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the
C fluteThe Western concert flute or C flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute...
after the
flûte d'amourThe flûte d'amour or flauto d'amore is pitched in either A or B and is intermediate in size between the modern C concert flute and the alto flute in G. It is the mezzo soprano member of the flute family. It is also sometimes called a tenor flute...
. It 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.
Said to be developed and popularized by
Theobald BoehmTheobald Böhm was a German inventor and musician, who perfected the modern Western concert flute and its improved fingering system. In addition, he was a virtuoso flautist and was a Bavarian Court Musician as well as a celebrated composer for the flute.Born in Munich in Bavaria, Boehm learned his...
, it is pitched in the key of G (sounding a 4th lower than written).
The
alto flute is a type of
Western concert fluteThe Western concert flute or C flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute...
, a
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the
C fluteThe Western concert flute or C flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute...
after the
flûte d'amourThe flûte d'amour or flauto d'amore is pitched in either A or B and is intermediate in size between the modern C concert flute and the alto flute in G. It is the mezzo soprano member of the flute family. It is also sometimes called a tenor flute...
. It 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.
Said to be developed and popularized by
Theobald BoehmTheobald Böhm was a German inventor and musician, who perfected the modern Western concert flute and its improved fingering system. In addition, he was a virtuoso flautist and was a Bavarian Court Musician as well as a celebrated composer for the flute.Born in Munich in Bavaria, Boehm learned his...
, it is pitched in the key of G (sounding a 4th lower than written). Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G6 (4
ledger lineA ledger line or leger line is musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staffs. A line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff .Notes more than three or...
s above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to Db8. The headjoint may be straight or curved.
Both have Boehm-system keywork, and the fact that they are transposing instruments means that the player can use the same fingerings on each instrument.
In addition to being used in various flute choirs and concert ensembles, alto flutes are also popular in many
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
groups. It is considered a doubling instrument for saxophonists (
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
). It is a
harmonicIn acoustics and telecommunication, a harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. For example, if the fundamental frequency is...
instrument which allows the changing of notes without adjusting the keys.
In the
classicalClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
literature, the alto flute is particularly associated with the scores of
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
and
Maurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, both of whom used the instrument's distinctive tone color in a variety of scores. It is featured in Ravel's
Daphnis et ChloéDaphnis et Chloé is a ballet with music by Maurice Ravel. Ravel described it as a "symphonie choréographique" . The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from an eponymous romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from around the 3rd century AD...
, Stravinsky's
The Rite of SpringThe Rite of Spring, commonly referred to by its original French title, Le Sacre du Printemps is a ballet with music by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, and original set design and costumes by archaeologist and painter Nicholas Roerich, all under...
,
Franco AlfanoFranco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Though today best known for completing Puccini's unfinished opera Turandot in 1926, he had considerable success with his own works during his lifetime....
's
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Cyrano de Bergerac, and
Sergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
's
Scythian Suite.
ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
used it in his operas
The Gamblers (incomplete),
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District* For the story by Nikolai Leskov, please see Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District * For the opera by Dmitri Shostakovich, please see Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District...
(also known as
Katerina Ismailova), as well as in his
Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad)Dmitri Shostakovich completed his Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad, on 27 December 1941. In its time, the symphony was extremely popular in both Russia and the West as a symbol of resistance and defiance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism...
. It also figures prominently in several movements of
Gustav HolstGustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets.Having studied at the Royal College of Music in London,...
's
The PlanetsThe Planets, Op. 32 is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the British composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Its first public performance occurred during World War I on 10 October 1918 in Birmingham, with Appleby Matthews conducting...
.
It also appears in
Howard ShoreHoward Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, orchestrator, conductor and music producer. He was the first band leader on Saturday Night Live. He composed the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the scores to most of David Cronenberg's films...
's music for
The Lord of the RingsThe music of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. Shore wrote many hours of music for The Lord of the Rings, 10 hours of which have been released in The Complete Recordings CD/DVD boxed sets...
among many other contemporary film scores.
British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as a bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument
known by that nameThe bass flute is the bass member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Because of the length of its tube , it is usually made with a "J" shaped head joint, which brings the embouchure hole within reach of the player...
. This naming confusion originated in the fact that the modern flute in C is pitched in the same range as the Renaissance tenor flute, therefore a lower pitched instrument would be called a bass.
Depicted above is the 'curved head' version, frequently preferred by smaller players because it requires less of a stretch for the arms, and makes the instrument feel lighter by moving the center of gravity nearer to the player. The straight version is more commonly used for acoustical reasons.
The embouchure for alto flute is similar to that for C flute, but in proportion to the size of the instrument. Hence the embouchure-hole sits lower on the lower lip, and the lip-aperture is wider.