Saturday 14 February 2026
by Ernesto Köhler
After beginning his musical career, Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler moved to Vienna at the age of twenty, and then, in 1871, on to Saint Petersburg. He remained in Saint Petersburg for the rest of life as a member of the orchestra of the Imperial Opera. The “Souvenir Russe” for flute and piano was clearly dedicated to his Russian experience. Starting from a slow theme in minor key, the piece then evolves towards a lively Allegretto, passing by two flute cadenzas.
Friday 13 February 2026
Traditional Irish jig
The earliest appearance of this jig is found in the third volume of Edward Bunting's The Ancient Music of Ireland, published in Dublin in 1840. Bunting collected the tune in 1802 from an old harper from County Leitrim named Charles Byrne (also called Charley Berreen), who is believed to have been born around 1712.
Thursday 12 February 2026
from “Thirty Easy and Progressive Studies”
Today we propose étude No. 24 from Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.
Wednesday 11 February 2026
from Sonata for Two Flutes No. 1
This binary-form Vivace in D major opens the first of Belgian Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Loeillet's Six sonatas of two parts, made on purpose for two German flutes, first published in London in 1720.
Tuesday 10 February 2026
from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, arranged for Flute solo
The Seguidilla aria forms part of Act I of the famous French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. The beautiful gypsy, Carmen, sings it in an attempt to seduce her captor, the soldier Don José, into going with her to her friend Lillas Pastia's inn.
After Bizet's death, this number was also included by Ernest Guiraud in Carmen Suite No. 1, the only movement of the suite that began as an aria.
More generally, a seguidilla is a quick triple-time Castillian folksong and dance form, whose name is a diminutive of seguida, from seguir, i.e. “to follow”.
Monday 9 February 2026
Traditional Irish jig
The earliest appearance of this jig is found in John Sutherland's late-18th-century manuscript collection Music for the Bagpipe, containing mostly Scottish and English tunes. The present version is taken from Francis O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland, published in 1907.
Sunday 8 February 2026
from “30 Caprices for Flute Solo”
This is the sixth étude from Sigfried Karg-Elert's 30 Caprices: a “Gradus ad Parnassum” of the modern technique for flute solo.
