Today's piece is the first duet from the third volume of La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!
This study is taken from the fourth part of the Méthode pour la flûte by French Romantic flutist and composer Louis Drouet, published in Paris in 1828.
The only known appearance of this jig in print is in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
The Wicklow Mountains constitute the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole center of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into Counties Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wicklow is also the name of the main town of County Wicklow.
Friedrich Kuhlau, a German-Danish pianist and composer of the late Classic and early Romantic eras, wrote several compositions for flute. The ”Adagio con espressione” we propose today is the central movement of the first of 3 Grand Solos for flute and piano, Op. 57. Some editions mark the piano accompaniment as “ad libitum”, meaning that the piece can very well be played by a solo flute without any accompaniment.
Many thanks to Lily for contributing this piece!
This celebrated barcarolle is part of Act II of French composer Daniel Auber's 1828 opera La muette de Portici, which is also known as Masaniello. In its original form, the piece is an aria titled “Amis, la matinée est belle” (“Friends, the morning is beautiful”), sung by Masaniello himself.
The present arrangement for two flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
The Allegro in C-sharp minor we present today is the tenth piece from Danish flutist and composer Joachim Andersen's Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 30.
“Heart of Oak” is the official march of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is also the official march of several Commonwealth navies, including the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. Its music was originally composed by organist William Boyce as part of an opera. It was first played publicly on New Year's Eve of 1760 as part of David Garrick's pantomime Harlequin's Invasion.
The oak in the song's title refers to the wood from which British warships were generally made during the age of sail. The “heart of oak” is the strongest central wood of the tree.
There is also an American version of this piece, titled “The Liberty Song”, which was published by John Dickinson in 1768. It was often sung at political meetings, dinners and celebrations in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Thanks to Steve for suggesting this tune!
This Allegro is the fifth movement, and fourth “aria”, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 3 in C minor, TWV 41:c1, originally published in 1716 as part of the Kleine Kammermusik (“little chamber music”) collection. The original edition indicates that the melody is intended to be played by an oboe, a violin, or a flute.
This study in tremolos is the second duet from the third volume of La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!
This étude was kindly contributed to our collection by Lily. It is based on Bohemian cellist and composer David Popper's Hohe Schule des Violoncello-Spiels (High School of Cello Playing), Op. 73, published in 1901.
The central part of the study, notated in octave clef, provides a fun challenge in the high register; it can also be played, however, in normal treble clef. The low C's in measures 60–63 can also be played one octave above, if desired.
In Songs and Music of the Redcoats (1970), Lewis Winstock says that this tune was written by Irish band sergeant James O'Connor as a march for his British army regiment, the 77th, in the Crimean War (1855), at the suggestion, it is said, of his commanding officer. Perhaps it was that O'Connor adapted it, for the tune had already appeared some seventy years earlier in A Collection of Scots Measures by Alexander ‛King’ McGlashan, published around 1780.
Unlike many classical Italian songs, “Caro mio ben” does not come from an opera, but, rather, was composed as a stand-alone concert piece. Until recently, the popular arietta was ascribed to Naples-born composer Giuseppe Giordani (1751–1798). However, scholars now consider his older brother Tommaso Giordani, or his father Giuseppe Giordani senior, more likely to be the aria's composer.
My dear beloved,
Believe me at least this much,
Without you, languishes my heart.
Your faithful one always sighs;
Cease, cruel one, so much punishment.
Thanks to Jon for suggesting this piece!
This Musette is the fifth movement of the third of Jacques-Christophe Naudot's 6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, Flutes traversieres, Haubois, ou Violons, sans Basse. The French word babiole humbly indicates something of little value or importance, a trifle.
This study is taken from the fourth part of the Méthode pour la flûte by French Romantic flutist and composer Louis Drouet, published in Paris in 1828.
This old strain, associated with the uilleann piping tradition, appeared in print at least as early as 1798, albeit in a much simpler setting. According to O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, it was included in six Collections of Country Dances published in London in that year.
This minuet in C is the fourth movement of the third of 5 Divertimentos for three basset horns composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from 1783 to 1785.
This frantic cut-time Allegro is the third duet from the third volume of La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!
The Moderato in B major we present today is the eleventh piece from Danish flutist and composer Joachim Andersen's Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 30.
This Irish reel is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905. Its second strain is unusual in that it has 10 bars rather than the usual eight for reels.
The Berceuse, Op. 16 is one of several charming miniatures for violin and piano by Gabriel Fauré. Originally composed in 1879, it quickly became one of the French composer's most famous pieces, and countless arrangements have since been published. The original key is D major, but most transcriptions for the flute are in F major, to remedy the fact that the original lowest note, an A3, is not within the flute's range.
This piece is not to be confused with the equally famous Berceuse from Fauré's Dolly suite, Op. 56.
Thanks to Federica and Kevin for suggesting this tune!
This song was originally written around 1830 by English-American organist George James Webb. The title and lyrics are those of a poem by the contemporary Rufus Dawes.
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
This study is taken from the fourth part of the Méthode pour la flûte by French Romantic flutist and composer Louis Drouet, published in Paris in 1828.
This jig is taken from Chicago police officer Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922. O'Neill's source is the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind fiddler from North Kerry, Ireland.
Totally unrelated to the more famous 15th-century polymath Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo Vinci was an early 18th-century Italian composer, best known for his operas. His sonata in D major for flute, of which we present today the closing Allegro, is one of the few of his instrumental works to be still played today.
These two rondeaus constitute the sixth movement of the first of Jacques-Christophe Naudot's 6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, Flutes traversieres, Haubois, ou Violons, sans Basse. The French term babiole humbly indicates something of little value or importance, a trifle.
The “Allegro ma non troppo” in G-sharp minor we present today is the twelfth piece from Danish flutist and composer Joachim Andersen's Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 30.
Scholar Kate Van Winkler Keller calls this tune “one of the most popular tunes of the late 1780s”. It was popular with fifers as well as fiddlers, and it was notably published in New Instructions for the German Flute (London, c. 1780). It was a favorite country dance in England and the Post-Revolutionary United States, and was still played by fifers during the American Civil War (1861).
This gorgeous Adagio is the opening movement of French Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair's Sonata for violin or flute and continuo in C major, Op. 1 No. 2. The first edition of this sonata was published in Paris around 1723.
Thanks to Marian for suggesting this piece!
This “Andante mosso” is the fourth duet from the third volume of La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!
This sextuplet-based study is taken from the fourth part of the Méthode pour la flûte by French Romantic flutist and composer Louis Drouet, published in Paris in 1828.