This is the opening movement of a flute trio in D major, QV 3:3.3, by Baroque flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz. This trio was probably written between 1726 and 1727, while Quantz was staying in Paris as part of his extended educational journey.
Today we propose the fifth piece from 18 Studi o Soli per flauto (“18 Studies or Solos for flute”) by 19th-century Italian flutist and composer Giulio Briccialdi.
Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This reel, featuring some unusually jazzy harmonies, was composed by his son, Rory.
Today we propose the third movement from a sonata for violin and basso continuo in F major, HWV 370, first published in 1732. It was originally thought to have been composed by George Frideric Handel, but modern scholars consider this doubtful, and have labelled it as “spurious”.
This is the second movement of a flute trio in D major, QV 3:3.3, by Baroque flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz. This trio was probably written between 1726 and 1727, while Quantz was staying in Paris as part of his extended educational journey.
This funeral march is the forty-third study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill obtained the tune from a seventeen year old fiddler named George West, who, though gifted musically, was somewhat indigent and did not own a fiddle. He had formed a symbiotic musical relationship of sorts with one O'Malley, who did own a fiddle and who eked out a meager living playing house parties despite the loss of a finger from his left hand. Invariably, however, O'Malley could only make it to midnight before he got too drunk to bow, at which time West took over his fiddle and finished the night's engagement.
This is the second movement of Johann Joachim Quantz's Sonata in D major for flute and continuo, QV 1: Anh. 10a. As the “Anh.” (“Anhang”, German for annex) in the opus number suggests, the attribution of this sonata to Quantz is questioned by scholars.
This is the third movement of a flute trio in D major, QV 3:3.3, by Baroque flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz. This trio was probably written between 1726 and 1727, while Quantz was staying in Paris as part of his extended educational journey.
Today we propose the sixth piece from 18 Studi o Soli per flauto (“18 Studies or Solos for flute”) by 19th-century Italian flutist and composer Giulio Briccialdi.
This traditional Swedish melody is best known as the vehicle for a spring song by Julia Nyberg, first published in 1828.
Fresh spring winds
Play and whisper,
The groves around,
Like loving couples.
The lyrics were originally published with the title “Den stackars Anna, eller Moll-toner från Norrland” (“Poor Anna, or minor tones from Norrland”), referencing the minor mode of the melody, and suggesting that it might have originated in Norrland, the northernmost region of Sweden.
Thanks to Phil for suggesting this tune!
Today we propose the fourth and final movement of a sonata for violin and basso continuo in F major, HWV 370, first published in 1732. It was originally thought to have been composed by George Frideric Handel, but modern scholars consider this doubtful, and have labelled it as “spurious”.
This famous setting of Psalm 137 was originally published by English organist Philip Hayes in 1786 as a canon for four voices. It has since been recorded by several artists, most notably by Don McLean in 1971 (the last track in his original American Pie album) and by Sr Janet Mead in 2006. It also made a prominent appearance in the first season of the TV show Mad Men (2007).
Since this is a canon, all four flutes play the same melody, but starting at different times, 4 bars apart. It is also possible to play this piece as a 3-part canon, ignoring the fourth voice; this is actually very common in modern arrangements.
This martial-sounding march is the forty-fourth study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.
Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This reel was composed by his son, Rory, who recorded it in his 2007 album Intrepid.
This Vivace is the third and final movement of Johann Joachim Quantz's Sonata in D major for flute and continuo, QV 1: Anh. 10a. As the “Anh.” (“Anhang”, German for annex) in the opus number suggests, the attribution of this sonata to Quantz is questioned by scholars.
This is the fourth movement of a flute trio in D major, QV 3:3.3, by Baroque flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz. This trio was probably written between 1726 and 1727, while Quantz was staying in Paris as part of his extended educational journey.
Today we propose the seventh piece from 18 Studi o Soli per flauto (“18 Studies or Solos for flute”) by 19th-century Italian flutist and composer Giulio Briccialdi.
This tune was published in a number of early 19th century Scottish collections, including volume 5 of Aird's A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1801), McGoun's Repository of Scots and Irish Airs, Strathspeys, and Reels, etc. and The Caledonian Museum (c. 1810). About a century later, Francis O'Neill included the same melody in his celebrated The Dance Music of Ireland (1907).
Russian composer Boris Fomin's song “By the Long Road” was originally written in 1924, but it was only brought to worldwide fame in the 1960s, after American architect Gene Raskin, whose parents were immigrants from Russia, wrote new English words to a slightly modified version of the melody.
Under the title “Those Were the Days”, it was Welsh singer Mary Hopkin's 1968 debut single, which became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. The song also reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.
This is the fifth and last movement of a flute trio in D major, QV 3:3.3, by Baroque flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz. This trio was probably written between 1726 and 1727, while Quantz was staying in Paris as part of his extended educational journey.
This “Andante sostenuto” is the forty-fifth study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.
Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This mixed-meter reel was composed by his son, Rory.
Today we propose the opening movement from a sonata for violin and basso continuo in E major, HWV 373, first published in 1730. It was originally thought to have been composed by George Frideric Handel, but modern scholars consider this doubtful, and have labelled it as “spurious”.
This is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in D major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.
Today we propose the eighth piece from 18 Studi o Soli per flauto (“18 Studies or Solos for flute”) by 19th-century Italian flutist and composer Giulio Briccialdi.
Throughout the study, one must pay attention that the higher notes don't sound shrill, and that the middle and low registers have a full, rich tone.
The earliest known appearance of this melody is in Cooke's Collection of Favourite Country Dances for 1797, under the title “Jackson's Rowling Pin”. In this context, “Jackson” would almost invariably be the famous 18th-century gentleman piper Walker ‛Piper’ Jackson, although it is uncertain whether he authored this particular tune. Ayrshire violinist and composer John Hall included the jig in his c. 1818 collection (as “Jackson's Roller”), but curiously did not attribute the tune "By Jackson" as he did with numerous other jigs in his collection.
This is the opening movement of Johann Joachim Quantz's Sonata in D major for flute and continuo, QV 1: Anh. 15a. As the “Anh.” (“Anhang”, German for annex) in the opus number suggests, the attribution of this sonata to Quantz is questioned by scholars.
This allemande is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in D major by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. It was first published in Paris in 1725.
This is the forty-sixth study from 48 Études pour hautbois ou saxophone, composed around 1835 by German oboist and clarinetist Franz Wilhelm Ferling.
Today's tune is taken from a collection kindly donated to us by piper Roddy Campbell from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. This reel was composed by his son, Rory.