Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Chaconne

Sigfrid Karg-Elert composed his 30 Caprices for Flute between 1915 and 1918. The German composer wrote them specifically for Carl Bartuzat, a flautist bound for service in the war. These short exercises were designed to challenge linear one-staff thinking and, in short, keep the friend from becoming bored. They are now a standard set of technical, dynamic, and phrasing exercises for flute students all over the world.

The Chaconne, a form taken from the baroque era, is the last and most challenging of the thirty caprices. It is based on a ground bass (“Basso ostinato”) of four notes: F, Eb, Db, C.

Tune of the Day: The Short Grass

This tune first appears in R.M. Levey's first collection of The Dance Music of Ireland (1858) as an untitled jig. The title “The Short Grass” is introduced in Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus No. 2, published around 1864.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the third movement of the first 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: Andante by Mattheson

This Andante is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Clinton

Today we propose a little study by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Tune of the Day: Mrs. Spens Monroe

This jig was first printed in the 4th volume of Glasgow publisher James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1796). However, the tune has also had a long history in Ireland, and might have an Irish provenance.

Spens (or Spence) Monroe is a Scottish family name. The fifth President of the United States, James Monroe (1758–1831), is said to have descended from one line of Spens Monroe.

Tune of the Day: La Volta

A “Volta” is a lively Renaissance dance for couples, a known favorite of Queen Elizabeth the first, who loved to dance to it. It is really more a type of piece than a specific piece, but this one by Praetorius is probably the most famous of them all.

A virtuoso organist, an organ builder, a composer and an assiduous musical scholar, Praetorius is celebrated for writing a remarkable three volume musical treatise, the Syntagma musicum, which allows us rare and fascinating glimpses into the musical sensibilities of his time. He was for his time a man of tremendous erudition, a polymath who was well versed in philosophy, theology and languages (including Latin, Greek and Hebrew) in addition to his formidable theoretical and practical understanding of music. Praetorius was also one of the most prolific composers of his generation in Germany, listing over forty volumes of printed music at the end of the Syntagma musicum, including sacred and secular works of all kinds.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Mattheson

This Allegro is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study No. 1 in C major

This piece is taken from the first of the three books of studies which make up Köhler's “Progress in Flute Playing”, Op. 33. These books were originally written to complement the course of instruction in Kohler's initial flute method.

Tune of the Day: The Spotted Cow

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. It is related to the popular Irish tune “Lark in the Morning”.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the fourth movement of the first 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: Adagio by Mattheson

This is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

This movement appears to lack a tempo indication in the original manuscripts, but modern editions usually classify it as an Adagio.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Clinton

Today we propose a little study by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Tune of the Day: Daniel of the Sun

The earliest appearance of this tune is in Irish violinist R.M. Levey's second collection of The Dance Music of Ireland, published in London in 1873.

This lightly ornamented three-part setting is taken from Francis O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907.

Tune of the Day: Bist du bei mir

This piece is often mistakenly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach due to its inclusion in the famous Notebook for Anna Magdalena, but the aria was actually part of the Stölzel opera Diomedes oder die triumphierende Unschuld (1718), whose score is now lost.

With its infinitely sweet melody, “Bist du bei mir” has recently become a very popular choice for wedding ceremonies and other such occasions.

Tune of the Day: Gavotte by Mattheson

This is the fourth and final movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Tristesse

This piece was originally composed by Frédéric Chopin as an étude for solo piano. It is a slow cantabile study, and marks a significant departure from the technical virtuosity required in études before Chopin's time. It concentrates on melodious phrasing and legato ambiance of performance more than technical skill. It has been classified as a tone poem for piano by some critics, and is highly regarded as a quality manifestation of Chopin's love for Romantic opera and Poland, where he was born.

A famous anecdote relates how the composer, while teaching this particular work to a pupil, broke down and cried out, “Oh, my homeland!”. Chopin was said to have also noted this piece as the most personal piece he composed, stating that

In all my life I have never again been able to find such a beautiful melody.

This Étude is also known as “Tristesse”, meaning “sadness” in French.

Tune of the Day: Paddy O'Carroll

The earliest known appearance of this tune is found in Richard Fitzmaurice's Fitzmaurice's New Collection of Irish Tunes, published in Edinburgh in 1807. Fitzmaurice's title was “Rossy Castle”, a reference to Ross Castle in Killarney (Co. Kerry) which suggests that the tune probably has Irish origins.

The name “Paddy O'Carroll”, which must have been acquired as a title soon afterwards, apparently has theatrical associations: a 1784 Dublin production bears the title The New Register Office; or, Paddy O'Carrol in High Life.

During the American Civil War, a song emerged among pro-Union Irishmen called “The Opinions of Paddy McGee” which used this tune as its melody.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Braun

This Allegro is the fifth and final movement of the first 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: Ouverture by Mattheson

This is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major 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 Clinton

Today we propose a little study by British flutist and composer John Clinton. It was first published in London in 1843, as part of his A Theoretical and Practical Essay on the Boehm Flute.

Tune of the Day: The Little House Under the Hill

Early-20th-century Chicago tune collector Francis O'Neill finds an “unmistakably” simple version of this jig under the title “Irish Air in The Poor Soldier”, published in The Hibernian Muse (1787). English composer William Shield employed the melody for his song “How Happy the Soldier”, part of the 1783 pasticcio opera The Poor Soldier.

The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes (The Northern Minstrel's Budget), published c. 1800, and the tune was included in a number of early-19th-century collections, such as O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, published in 1806.

It is worth noting that a short story by Irish writer William Carleton is called “The Three Tasks: Or, The Little House Under the Hill”, published in his Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830). It tells the tale of Jack, who gambles with fairies for riches and loses; he forfeits his liberty and enters servitude in their castle. Jack manages to escape aided by a beautiful lady, whom he falls in love with. Alas, just as they are married Jack is awakened by his mother—it was a dream, and he has lost his bride, but finds the gold. Carleton writes:

In the coorse of time, a harper, hearing the story, composed a tune upon it, which every body knows is called “The Little House under the Hill” to this day, beginning with—

Hi for it, ho for it, hi for it still;
Och and whoo! your sowl—hi for the little house under the hill.

Tune of the Day: Minuet in G major

This famous piece was traditionally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, as it appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, a notebook which Bach offered to his wife Anna Magdalena in 1725 and which was to be filled with favorite selections of the members of the Bach family.

However, recent research has concluded that this minuet (sometimes referred to as “BWV Anhang 114”) was probably composed by Christian Petzold, a German composer and organist contemporary with Bach.

As you will see, the score contains some suggestions for realizing ornaments in accordance with Baroque performance practice; when first learning the piece, you should ignore them.

Tune of the Day: Adagio by Mattheson

This ethereal Adagio is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study No. 7 by Köhler

This melodious piece will make you an expert in D minor scales and arpeggios! It is taken from the first book of Progress in Flute Playing, published in the 1880s by Italian composer Ernesto Köhler. The étude No. 7 can be roughly divided into three parts: the exposition of the main theme, a more relaxed central section in D major, and a final restatement of the initial theme.

Tune of the Day: Breeches Mary

The first known appearance of this minor-mode jig is in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, published in Boston in 1883.

Tune of the Day: Andante by Braun

This Andante is the opening movement of the second 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: Allegro by Mattheson

This 3/8-time Allegro is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Caprice No. 2

Today we propose the second of Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, a famous collection of études for solo violin composed between 1802 and 1817. This particular study focuses on staccato (dotted) articulation.

Thanks to Hanyu for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Jimmy O'Brien's Jig

The great collector Francis O'Neill learned this tune from County Mayo piper James O'Brien, who visited Chicago (where O'Neill worked as a police officer) in 1876. He is described as

[...] a neat, tasty Irish piper of the Connacht school of close players, and though his Union pipes were small, they were sweet and musical... One of his peculiarities—and an unpleasant one, occasionally—was a habit of stopping the music in order to indulge in conversation. He could not be induced to play a tune in full, when under the influence of stimulants, as his loquacity was uncontrollable, and he never hesitated under such conditions to express a passing sentiment. Amiable and harmless at all times, he died at a comparatively early age in Chicago, a victim to conviviality, his only weakness.

O'Neill states that the jig was unknown among Chicago musicians prior to O'Brien, even by musicians from Mayo, somewhat surprising given its apparent long history in Ireland.

Tune of the Day: Minuet in B minor

It is unknown when exactly Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Suite for Orchestra No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067. It is a vibrant and fast-paced work, leaning towards the entertainment side of pure music. This suite is one of four such works that the composer wrote in his lifetime. Bach was not even slightly opposed to writing music for more money or power, but was less forthcoming with light music; he did not like it much. All of the lighter music he wrote was never published, including these overtures. These works were good for business, but Bach was more comfortable writing church music or works featuring striking fugal challenges. This suite gave him a chance to write for transverse flute, which had just begun to be in fashion.