The apostle of the flageolet

Summary

Another fellow, the apostle of the flageolet, was such a zealot that he couldn’t be stopped from playing in the orchestra of which he was the principal ornament, even when there was no part for flageolet.

He either doubled the flute or the oboe or the clarinet; he would have doubled the double bass rather than keep quiet. When one of his colleagues remarked that he found it strange he should go so far as to play in a Beethoven symphony, he replied: “You consider my instrument only in terms of its mechanical capacity, which you regard as limited. Imbeciles! If Beethoven had known me, his works would have been full of flageolet solos, and he would have made a fortune. But he didn’t know me, and he died in the poorhouse.”