Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Mesto by Quantz

Today we propose the slow central movement of a Flute Duet in D major by famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz, first published in 1759.

Tune of the Day: Study in G minor by Hugues

This study is the thirtieth piece from 30 Studi, Op. 32, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: The Friendly Visit

The first known appearance of this tune in print is in Volume 4 of James Kerr's Merry Melodies (ca. 1880), as “English Clog Hornpipe”.

The tune is very popular in County Donegal, Ireland, where it is often played in A major. It has also had enough currency in Northumberland to be considered local, with origins perhaps in the Irish migrant labor attracted by opportunities in the Tyneside dockyards. One local Northumbrian name for the hornpipe is “Whittle Dene”.

Thanks to Phil for suggesting this tune!

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Bellinzani

This is the second movement of the ninth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.

This movement has actually no tempo indication in the original manuscript, but it sometimes appears as an “Allegro” in modern editions.

Tune of the Day: The Bonnets of Blue

Today we propose a nice arrangement for two flutes of “Hurrah for the Bonnets of Blue”, taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine (Philadelphia, 1833). Therein, the piece is attributed to English musician Alexander Lee, but it is uncertain whether the melody was Lee's original invention or he borrowed it from English tradition.

Tune of the Day: Study in E-flat minor by Fürstenau

This is the fourteenth piece from 24 Tägliche Studien (24 Daily Studies) by German flutist and composer Anton Bernhard Fürstenau, first published in Berlin in 1839.

Tune of the Day: The Wild Irishman

This jig setting seems to predate the reel of the same name that has been quite popular in Ireland, at least in printed collections. All versions of this “Wild Irishman” appear to have developed from a melody printed by London music publisher Henry Playford in 1688, titled “Fourpence Ha'penny Farthing.”

Tune of the Day: Adagio by Corelli

This Adagio in A minor is the third movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, which was originally published in 1700 as part of his 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5.

Tune of the Day: Allegro di molto by Quantz

Today we propose the third and final movement of a Flute Duet in D major by famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz, first published in 1759.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Hugues

Today's piece is the fourth study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Mrs MacDonald of Dunach

This pipe tune is one of the most melodic and popular marches composed by Pipe Major William Lawrie (1881–1916).

Thanks to Ronald for suggesting this tune!

Tune of the Day: Adagio by Bellinzani

This is the third movement of the ninth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.

Tune of the Day: March in Macbeth

This flute duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. Unfortunately, we were unable to trace the melody's origins. It was probably composed for a stage production of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, but predates both Verdi's Macbeth and Arthur Sullivan's incidental music for Macbeth.

Tune of the Day: Study in F-sharp major by Fürstenau

This is the fifteenth piece from 24 Tägliche Studien (24 Daily Studies) by German flutist and composer Anton Bernhard Fürstenau, first published in Berlin in 1839.

Tune of the Day: Tom Jones

No, this tune has absolutely nothing to do with the famous Welsh singer! It is, in fact, almost two centuries older than him. It is named after the title character of Henry Fielding's 1749 comic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Its numerous appearances in mid-18th-century publications and musicians' manuscripts seem to indicate that it was a very popular melody in England during that period.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Corelli

This Allegro is the fourth movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, which was originally published in 1700 as part of his 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5.

Tune of the Day: Grave by Quantz

This is the opening movement of a Flute Duet in E minor by famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz, first published in 1759.

Tune of the Day: Study in F-sharp minor by Hugues

Today's piece is the sixth study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Merrily Kiss the Quaker

This tune, most likely of Scottish origin, can be traced to Dublin publishers John and William Neal, who printed a version as “Ye Ragg” in their A Choice Collection of Country Dances (1724), a collection of tunes of mixed English, Scottish and Irish provenance. Under the title “Merrily Kiss the Quaker”, essentially the same tune was later printed in the 4th volume of O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes (c. 1810).

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Bellinzani

This is the fourth and last movement of the ninth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.

This movement has actually no tempo indication in the original manuscript, but it sometimes appears as an “Allegro” in modern editions.

Tune of the Day: Canon in E minor by Paul Merkus

Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Paul Merkus from the Netherlands.

For a long time I have been fascinated by the well-known Pachelbel canon and the chord progression that it is based on, a very strong scheme that many other pieces and songs are also based on. It was only after quite some time that I realized that Pachelbel's canon is indeed a canon, as it is not immediately recognizable as such. This is probably because it does not repeat quickly, unlike many well-known short canon songs. I was wondering whether such a canon could also be made based on a chord progression in a minor key... and so I wrote a canon for three equal voices and continuo based on a repeating chord structure in E-minor. Its structure imitates very closely that of Pachelbel's, starting from the basso ostinato pattern that repeats throughout the piece. After eight bars of prelude in the continuo, the first voice enters in a slowly descending sequence of quavers. After a number of bars with a mere movement in quavers, an additional movement in semiquavers starts in the first voice, and then expands to the other voices. More ornaments are then introduced, while the three voices pursue one another two bars apart until the end of the piece, where they meet to form a Picardy cadence.

Many thanks, Paul, for sharing your music with us!

Tune of the Day: Study in F minor by Fürstenau

This is the sixteenth piece from 24 Tägliche Studien (24 Daily Studies) by German flutist and composer Anton Bernhard Fürstenau, first published in Berlin in 1839.

Tune of the Day: Rosin the Bow

This melody has been popular as a song and dance air in several genres, in multiple forms and tempos. A song version, titled “Old Rosin the Beau”, was published in the US in 1838 (“A Comic Song Dedicated to the Members of the Falcon Barge by the Publisher”), but while this may be one of the earliest printings, it is thought that many other versions of the air from Great Britain and Ireland predate it.

I've travelled this wide world over
And now to another I'll go,
For I know that good quarters are waiting
To welcome old Rosin the Beau.

The tune was borrowed for numerous songs, particularly in America, where it notably became the vehicle for Frances D. Henry's 1874 “Old Settler's Song” (a.k.a. “Acres of Clams”) and Arthur L. Kellog's “A Hayseed Like Me” (circa 1890).

Tune of the Day: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

“Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” (German for “I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ”), BWV 639, is amongst J.S. Bach's most popular chorale preludes. It is part of Bach's Orgelbüchlein (“Little Organ Book”), a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ written between 1708 and 1717, when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar.

Pure in style, this ornamental chorale prelude has been described as “a supplication in time of despair”. It is sometimes played at funerals, and was notably played at the service for Princess Diana in 1997.

Thanks to Istvan from Hungary for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: The Minstrel's Return'd from the War

This song was composed in 1825 by American songwriter, poet and playwright John Hill Hewitt. It was Hewitt's first song and one of his most famous, and eventually became a success internationally, making him the first American-born composer whose fame reached both sides of the Atlantic.

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

Tune of the Day: Study in E major by Hugues

Today's piece is the ninth study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Tulloch Gorm

This tune appears to be quite old. Music historian Francis Collinson finds that a tune in the Rowallan lute manuscript (c. 1612-1628) called “Ouir the Deck Davy” has a “distinct resemblance” to “Tullochgorum”. The earliest record of this tune in more or less modern form is as a rant entitled “Reel of Tullochgorum” in David Young's Duke of Perth manuscript (a.k.a. the Drummond Castle manuscript) of 1734; it is also found in the James Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). These early versions show little of the later strathspey rhythm, at least as noted, and appear as rants. The first appearance of “Tulloch Gorm” as a strathspey is in Robert Bremner's A Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances, dated 1757.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Corelli

This Allegro is the fifth and final movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, which was originally published in 1700 as part of his 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5.

Tune of the Day: Presto by Quantz

This is the fast cut-time second movement of a Flute Duet in E minor by famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz, first published in 1759.

Tune of the Day: Study in B major by Fürstenau

This is the seventeenth piece from 24 Tägliche Studien (24 Daily Studies) by German flutist and composer Anton Bernhard Fürstenau, first published in Berlin in 1839.

Tune of the Day: Whistle O'er the Lave O't

Poet Robert Burns attributed this strathspey to dancing master John Bruce of Dumfries (c. 1720–1785), but it seems likely that the tune is actually much older. Its first appearance in print was in Robert Bremner's A Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances (1757), but the song “Whistle o'er the lave o't” was written in the 17th century.

Today, the version that was published by James Scott Skinner in 1890 is commonly associated with the Scottish traditional dance “Seann Triubhas”, along with “Gin Ye Kiss My Wife I'll Tell the Minister”, which Skinner says is the original tune of the dance. Seann Triubhas is performed in tartan trousers, not kilts; that is because it was devised sometime after the Battle of Culloden, when the wearing of the kilt was outlawed.

Site update: Twelve Years of flutetunes.com

Another year, another 365 tunes of the day! It is absolutely amazing to think that our collection of flute music has grown to host almost 4500 pieces.

Once again, a huge thank you to everybody for sharing your passion for the flute with us! In these hard times of epidemics and isolation, we hope that you are finding comfort in good music!