Today we propose an étude by Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier, taken from his book 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière. Berbiguier was a French flutist and composer of the Romantic Era. He was very prolific as a composer, having written 11 concertos for flute and orchestra and many flute duets, as well as two methods for the instrument.
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. Musician Paul de Grae writes that it is likely O'Neill obtained the jig from artist George Petrie's (1790–1866) manuscript collection, where it can be found as an untitled jig obtained from another collector, Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914), who in turn had it “from D. Cleary, Kilfinane” (a small town in County Limerick). The settings are close but not identical, perhaps the result of a reworking by Francis O'Neill's transcriber and collaborator, James O'Neill.
“The Sorcerer's Apprentice” (original French title “L'apprenti sorcier”) is a symphonic poem composed by Paul Dukas in 1897. It was inspired by Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name (“Der Zauberlehrling” in German).
Although Dukas's musical piece, first published in 1897, was already quite well known and popular, it was made particularly famous by its inclusion in the 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia, in which Mickey Mouse plays the role of the apprentice. The popularity of the musical piece in Fantasia caused it to be used again in Fantasia 2000.
Perhaps the best-known Mickey Mouse short after Steamboat Willy, The Sorcerer's Apprentice tells the story of Goethe's famous poem, which is a story of wizard's meek assistant who attempts to work some of the magical feats of his master, before he knows how to properly control them. Interestingly, the sorcerer's anger with his apprentice, which appears in Fantasia, does not appear in the Goethe source poem
This Adagio is the second movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's first Canonic Sonata. In this instance, the word canonic means “in the manner of a canon”; that is, the two players play the exact same melody, but one measure apart.
Remember that, since this is a Baroque piece, trills should be played beginning on the note above the one indicated. In this case, it is also nice to end the trills by playing the note below the one indicated, followed by the note itself; for instance, to trill a D, you could play E-D-E-D-E-D-C-D. Just be careful to add the appropriate accidentals!