Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: The Ruins of Killmallock

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. It had previously appeared under the title “Old Walls of Liscarroll” in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883), although with the first strain in minor mode and a few minor differences in the second strain.

Kilmallock, a town of less than 2000 residents in south County Limerick, was during the middle ages the third largest city in Ireland. The ruins of a Dominican friary, built in the 13th century but sacked by Cromwell's forces in 1648, are still visible today, as well as the remains of the medieval walls which encircled the settlement.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the third movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Rondeau

Tremendously popular for his extended stage works during the reign of Louis XIV, Jean-Joseph Mouret today is remembered only for this fanfare, lasting less than two minutes. Oddly, it became associated with the pomp and glory of England, not of France, when in 1971 WGBH radio announcer Robert J. Lurtsema proposed it as the theme for Masterpiece Theatre, WGBH-TV's repackagings of BBC historical dramas for broadcast on American public television.

The piece, taken from Mouret's first Suite de Symphonies (Fanfares for Trumpets, Kettledrums, Violins and Oboes), is a popular musical choice in many modern weddings.

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Gariboldi

Here is another melodious study from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. This one covers the G-major scale, fast triplets and large intervals.

Tune of the Day: The Mountaineers' March

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. In a 1906 letter to Alfred Percival Graves, O'Neill identifies his source for this tune:

A police patrolman, Michael Raverty, from Tyrone, my partner on duty thirty years ago, “shortened the night” by quietly whistling “The Mountaineers,” March No. 1,030 in Collection.

Tune of the Day: Échos

Jacques Hotteterre is regarded as one of the most outstanding French musicians of the baroque period. He was the most celebrated of a family of wind instrument makers and wind performers.

Hotteterre owed his fame largely to his talent playing the flute, an instrument for which he wrote a number of pieces, significantly extending the repertory for the instrument. In addition, he played the bassoon, oboe, and musette (French bagpipe). He was also an internationally celebrated teacher to aristocratic patrons, and he wrote a few methods for the transverse flute.

In addition to performance and teaching, Hotteterre continued his family's tradition of wind instrument making. It may have been Hotteterre who made a number of changes in the design of the transverse flute, though there is little concrete evidence for this. Most notably, the flute, which had previously been made in one cylindrical piece, was cut in three pieces: the head, the body and the foot.

Tune of the Day: Capriccio by Mattheson

This is the opening movement of a sonata in A minor for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Köhler

This is étude No. 13 of the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing, Op. 33. The first part is a melancholic moderate-tempo barcarole, while the second part is “more agitated” (“Più mosso”) but still graceful (“con grazia”).

Thanks to Neri for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: The Monaghan Jig

This jig was first printed by Nathaniel Gow in his Fifth Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, etc. (Edinburgh, 1809), where it is identified as “Irish”, although the fourth part is attributed to “Mr. Sharpe of Hoddam”, a Perthshire gentleman-amateur violinist.

The melody was notably popularized by Irish fiddle master Michael Coleman, who recorded it on Columbia records in 1921.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the fourth movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Che farò senza Euridice?

According to Greek mythology, Orpheus was “the father of songs”: with his music and singing, he could charm birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, and even divert the course of rivers.

When his wife Eurydice died of a snake bite, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following and in his anxiety as soon as he reached the upper world he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time.

It is then that Orpheus intones the lament, “Che farò senza Euridice?” (“What will I do without Eurydice?”), a sublime aria which has truly become immortal.

Tune of the Day: Study in A minor by Gariboldi

This easy study in triplets is taken from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. Play this piece evenly, and mind your articulation and phrasing.

Tune of the Day: The Mooncoin Jig

The earliest appearance of this jig is found in Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland (Chicago, 1903), but the tune is related to an English/Scottish melody known as “The Major”, dating back to the mid-18th century.

Mooncoin is a town in County Kilkenny in the southeast of Ireland, an area famous in the 19th century and early 20th century for its pipers. The town's curious name derives from an anglicized version of the Irish “Móin Choinn”, which means “Coyne's Bogland”.

Tune of the Day: Musette in D major

Anna Magdalena Bach, Johann Sebastian's wife, was presented with the famous Notebook by her husband in 1725. He started her out with a fine gift of two partitas, and left the rest blank for her to collect compositions herself. The Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126, is one of those collected compositions. Because all the entries are anonymous, it is impossible to know for certain whether or not J.S. Bach actually composed this brief, simple musette. Certain things about it, most notably its somewhat boisterous mood, suggest the work of one of Johann Sebastian's sons. The boisterousness chiefly manifests itself in witty alternations between broken octave bass accompaniment and unison in the statement of the perky theme, and some tricky, less-than-completely sweet harmonies in the contrasting material.

In this transcription for the modern C flute we kept the original key of D major, but we had to raise the last note by an octave.

Tune of the Day: Air en Rondeau by Mattheson

This is the second movement of a sonata in A minor for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Köhler

Here is étude No. 14 from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing. It is a study in intervals, mainly in the key of A major but with a calmer central section that starts off in C major but in the end modulates back to A major.

Thanks to Neri for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: The Bashful Maid

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill obtained this tune from Father James K. Fielding, a Chicago Catholic priest and flute player from County Kilkenny.

Tune of the Day: Giga by Braun

This gigue is the fifth and final movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Fossils

In this funny piece from Le Carnaval des Animaux, Saint-Saëns mimics his own composition, the Danse Macabre, which makes heavy use of the xylophone to evoke the image of skeletons playing card games, the bones clacking together to the beat. The musical themes from Danse Macabre are also quoted. Allusions to “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” (better known in the English-speaking world as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”), the French nursery rhymes “Au Clair de la Lune” and “J'ai du bon tabac”, the popular anthem “Partant pour la Syrie” as well as the aria “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini's The Barber of Seville can also be heard. The musical joke in this movement is obviously that the musical pieces quoted are the fossils of his time.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Gariboldi

Here is another easy study from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. This Allegretto in waltz time starts off with a succession of eighth notes marked “deciso” (determined, resolute), which gives way to a lighter, graceful theme.

Tune of the Day: The Barronstown Races

This jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's early-20th-century collections.

The title refers to the Barronstown area in county Tipperary, home to the racecourse which, from 1848 to 1915, hosted the Tipperary horse races.

Tune of the Day: Land of Hope and Glory

The music to which the words of the refrain “Land of hope and glory…” are set is the Trio theme from Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. The words were fitted to the melody on the suggestion of King Edward VII, who told Elgar he thought the melody would make a great song. When Elgar was requested to write a work for the King's coronation, he worked the suggestion into his Coronation Ode, for which he asked the poet and essayist A. C. Benson to write the words. The last section of the Ode uses the march's melody.

In the USA and Canada this march is also known as “The Graduation Song”, as it is played at graduation ceremonies. This custom was created when Elgar was awarded an honorary doctorate at Yale University, and the orchestra performed Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1 for the ceremony.

Tune of the Day: Rigaudon by Mattheson

This is the third movement of a sonata in A minor for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Gavotte by Köhler

This is the second-to-last étude from Ernesto Köhler's 25 Romantic Studies, Op. 66. It is titled “Gavotte”, like the French folk dance it takes inspiration from. The main technical difficulty of this piece resides in its unusual broken chords, and in the ever-changing accidentals, that require a wise use of the B-flat lever. Also make sure not to hold the eighth notes too long when they are followed by a rest.

Tune of the Day: The Flitch of Bacon

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903, but it is almost certainly significantly older. The title, at any rate, can be traced all the way back to the 1778 comic opera “The Flitch of Bacon” by English composer William Shield.

There was an old English custom, recalled in plays, ballads and anecdotes, whereby a flitch of bacon (a side of unsliced bacon) was awarded to married couples who could swear to not having regretted their marriage for a year and a day.

Tune of the Day: Largo by Braun

This Largo is the opening movement of the fifth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Sonata facile

The Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was described by Mozart himself in his own thematic catalogue as “for beginners”, and it is sometimes known by the nickname “Sonata facile” or “Sonata semplice”, which in Italian mean “Easy sonata”. Although the piece is very well known today, it was not published in Mozart's lifetime, first appearing in print in 1805. The relative ease of K. 545 has ensured that it has become the most famous of all Mozart's piano sonatas, a work that scarcely a student of the instrument fails to learn at some point in his or her career.

The opening Allegro movement, written in Sonata form, is often quoted as a paradigm of the ambiguity of Classical “simplicity”. The familiar opening theme is accompanied by an Alberti bass, a particular kind of accompaniment often used in the Classical era, consisting of broken chords where the notes of the chord are presented in the order lowest, highest, middle, highest (e.g. C-G-E-G). It was named after Domenico Alberti, who used it extensively, although he was not the first to use it.

Tune of the Day: Study in B-flat major by Gariboldi

Here is a new study in the Italian style from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. Play this piece as a light waltz, keeping a steady tempo throughout.

Tune of the Day: Paddy in London

This melody was first printed by Dublin publisher Smollet Holden in A Collection of Old Established Irish Slow and Quick Tunes, vol. 2 (c. 1805) as “Bear leigean doibh” (“Better let them be”). However, the now-common title “Paddy in London” is only first found accompanying the tune in W. West's Irish Country Dances (London, c. 1820).

Tune of the Day: The Arkansas Traveler

A tune, a dialog, and a painting from the mid-nineteenth century, the “Arkansas Traveler” became a catch-all phrase for almost anything or anyone from Arkansas: it has been the name of a kind of canoe, various newspapers, a racehorse, a baseball team, and more.

The Arkansas-based version of the Traveler is said to have begun in 1840. Colonel Sandford Faulkner got lost in rural Arkansas and asked for directions at a humble log home. Faulkner, a natural performer, turned the experience into an entertaining presentation for friends and acquaintances in which the Traveler was greeted by the Squatter at the log cabin with humorously evasive responses to his questions. Finally, the Traveler offered to play the second half, or turn, of the tune the Squatter was playing on his fiddle. The tune was “The Arkansas Traveler”. In his happiness at hearing the turn of the tune, the Squatter mustered all of the hospitality of his household for the benefit of the Traveler. When the Traveler again asked directions, the Squatter offered them but suggested that the Traveler would be lucky to make it back to the cottage “whar you kin cum and play on thara’r tune as long as you please.”

Tune of the Day: Gigue by Mattheson

This is the fourth and final movement of a sonata in A minor for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.