Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: The Stool of Repentance

This Scottish jig has not only survived but has remained popular for nearly three centuries. An early version of the melody can be found in the William Dixon manuscript dated 1734. Printed versions from the 18th century often give the tune as “Wright's Rant”. It was included in a number of 20th-century collections, and is still very popular, especially with contra-dancers.

The title comes from Scottish Church history and has to do with the survival of an old Roman Catholic tradition. In the late 18th century, transgressors were often given the penance in church of sitting for one or two weeks before the entire congregation on the “stool of repentance”. This was a special seat dedicated for the purpose and was set up before the pulpit. In some congregations the penitent had to stand on the stool after the service was over to receive the minister's rebuke.

Thanks to Ronald for suggesting this tune!

Tune of the Day: Hungarian Dance No. 4

Today's tune is the fourth of Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dances (Ungarische Tänze in German), a set of 21 lively dance tunes based on Hungarian themes. Even if originally written for piano four-hands, each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Our arrangement for solo flute is in the key of F-sharp minor, like the version for orchestra by Brahms himself; the original version for piano four-hands, however, is in F minor.

Be careful in the central part of the piece (“Molto allegro”), where it switches to F-sharp major, as there are many double sharps!

Thanks to Samaa for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Home! Sweet Home!

This song, composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop in 1823, has remained well known for almost 200 years now. Originally a favorite with troops on both sides of the American Civil War, it has recently also become famous in Japan as “Hanyū no Yado” (“My Humble Cottage”), and has been used in several movies.

The present arrangement for three flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.

Tune of the Day: Study in A-flat minor by Drouet

This “Andante sostenuto” is the forty-sixth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.

It is proposed in two equivalent versions, one in A-flat minor (with all 7 flats in the key signature) and one in the enharmonic key of G-sharp minor. We suggest that you practice both, but separately. As always, start slowly, and make sure you play the right notes!

Tune of the Day: Wha'll be King but Charlie

In his 1815 book The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles, Simon Fraser defines “Wha'll be King but Charlie” as a “grand old Jacobite rallying song”, and further states that it “is a melody common to Ireland as well as the Highlands of Scotland,—but, having been known in this country since 1745, as one of the incentives of rebellion; if originally Irish, some of the troops or partisans engaged for Charles from that country might have brought it over,—but the melody is simple and beautiful, assimilating itself very much to the style of either”.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Telemann

This is the second movement and first aria of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 2 in G major, TWV 41:G2, 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.

Tune of the Day: Andante by Mozart

This Andante is the third of Mozart's Twelve Duos for Horn, K. 487, which he composed in Vienna in 1786. They were probably intended for the basset horn, a wind instrument similar to the clarinet, but larger, in F (less often in G), and with a darker sound.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Boehm

This study, starting in the key of B minor and ending in B major, constitutes the twenty-second piece from a collection of 24 Etudes for the flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute and improved its fingering system.

Tune of the Day: The Mill Oh

This popular tune is common to many collections printed in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The melody is that to which Robert Burns in 1793 set “The Sodger's (Soldier's) Return” (“The Poor and Honest Soldier”). Burns's poem is a reworking of a folk theme, popular since Homer's Odyssey, of lovers parted by war: when the man returns he is not recognized but finds his love has been true, then reveals himself and is happily reunited.

The Scottish Christmas carol “What Strangers Are These?” is also sung to this tune.

Tune of the Day: Rondo by Dvorak

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his Rondo in G major for cello and piano, Op. 94, in 1891, and first published it three years later. Legend has it that Dvořák spent an entire Christmas Day working on it! The piece, also cataloged as B.171, was dedicated to the renowned Czech cellist Hanuš Wihan. A version for orchestra was also produced by Dvořák in 1893, and published as B.181.

Thanks to Katie for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Duet in A major by Hugues

Today we propose duet No. 17 from the second volume of Luigi Hugues's La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute).

Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Drouet

This study in trills is the twenty-fifth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.

Tune of the Day: Paddy O'Snap

The earliest known reference to “Paddy O'Snap” is as a song in The Five Lovers, a comic opera by Tom Cooke staged in Dublin in 1806. Although Cooke is credited with composing the opera, whether he composed this melody is unknown, as he may well have adapted an existing air. The first printing of the tune was in Dublin publisher Smollet Holden's Collection of Old Established Irish Slow and Quick Tunes, issued the same year Cooke's opera was performed in the city.

Thomas Moore's song “Quick, we have but a second”, printed in his Irish Melodies, was set to the tune of “Paddy O'Snap”.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Telemann

This is the fourth movement, and third aria, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 2 in G major, TWV 41:G2, 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.

Tune of the Day: Polonaise by Mozart

This Polonaise is the fourth of Mozart's Twelve Duos for Horn, K. 487, which he composed in Vienna in 1786. They were probably intended for the basset horn, a wind instrument similar to the clarinet, but larger, in F (less often in G), and with a darker sound.

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Boehm

This “Allegretto grazioso” in G major is the twenty-third piece from a collection of 24 Etudes for the flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute and improved its fingering system.

Tune of the Day: The Girl That Wears Green

This traditional Irish jig appears in Chicago police officer Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922.

Tune of the Day: Anadolia by Foster

This piece is the last solo from The Social Orchestra, a collection of various instrumental arrangements by Stephen Foster, the “father of American music”. The collection, published in 1854, mainly consists of arrangements of popular airs of the day, melodies of well-known operas, and arrangements of Foster's own songs, but some of the pieces, such as “Anadolia”, are entirely new works.

Tune of the Day: Duet in D major by Hugues

Today we propose duet No. 18 from the second volume of Luigi Hugues's La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute).

Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Drouet

This study in double tonguing is the forty-seventh piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.

Tune of the Day: Molly at the Fair

This traditional Irish reel is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.

Tune of the Day: Affettuoso by Telemann

This is the fifth movement, and fourth aria, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 2 in G major, TWV 41:G2, 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.

Tune of the Day: Larghetto by Mozart

This Larghetto is the fifth of Mozart's Twelve Duos for Horn, K. 487, which he composed in Vienna in 1786. They were probably intended for the basset horn, a wind instrument similar to the clarinet, but larger, in F (less often in G), and with a darker sound.

Tune of the Day: Study in E minor by Boehm

This study is the twenty-fourth and final piece from a collection of 24 Etudes for the flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute and improved its fingering system.

Tune of the Day: Captain Brisbane's Frolic

This traditional English country dance tune is taken from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1808, published in London by Goulding & Co.

The title probably refers to Captain Sir Charles Brisbane, a career Royal Naval officer during the wars with Napoleon.

Tune of the Day: Grand Pas de Deux

This “Grand Pas de Deux” is arguably the most well known number from Marius Petipa's 1869 ballet Don Quixote. The music for the ballet was written by Ludwig Minkus, an Austrian composer and violin virtuoso who served as the official Composer of Ballet Music to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia.

Thanks to Diana for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Duet in E minor by Hugues

This is duet No. 19 from the second volume of Luigi Hugues's La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute).

Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in F major by Drouet

This melodious polonaise-like piece is the forty-eighth study from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.

Tune of the Day: Meg Merrilies

“Meg Merrilies” is the name of a Scottish country dance, commonly taught by dancing masters in the 19th century. In Elias Howe's 1867 collection 1000 Jigs and Reels, however, it is classified as an “English Country Dance”.

The title actually derives from the name of a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1815 novel Guy Mannering, and it is also the title of a poem by John Keats.

Tune of the Day: Minuetto by Telemann

This is the seventh movement, and sixth aria, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 2 in G major, TWV 41:G2, 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.

Tune of the Day: Menuetto by Mozart

This minuet is the sixth of Mozart's Twelve Duos for Horn, K. 487, which he composed in Vienna in 1786. They were probably intended for the basset horn, a wind instrument similar to the clarinet, but larger, in F (less often in G), and with a darker sound.

Site update: flutetunes.com turns 7 years old

Another year, another 365 tunes of the day! Our collection has now grown to over 2600 pieces, and we are well determined to keep going.

But that's not all. Over the past year we have also worked hard to improve flutetunes.com's features. Here are some of the most notable updates:

• The metronome and the tuner have been updated to take advantage of the most cutting-edge web standards. No more need for Java, which means both tools are now easier to use and faster to load. Also, iPad support!
• The tune search box has been improved to add support for advanced search options. For example, it is now possible to limit your search to tunes in the key of E-flat major by adding “key:Eb” to your query. More examples are available on the “Browse tunes” page, by clicking on “Show advanced search examples”.
• A new popularity indicator has been added to tune pages. These ratings are updated daily based on how many times a given tune has been downloaded during the past week. Moreover, you can now browse the most popular tunes one page at a time by using the “next/previous page” link at the bottom.

Once again, a huge thank you to everybody for sharing your passion for the flute with us!