Today's tune is taken from the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind fiddler from North Kerry, Ireland, notated by his student.
This Adagio is the third movement of the fourth sonata from Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, Op. 19 by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These sonatas were originally published in Paris in 1727.
These two minuets constitute the eighth movement of the second of six Concerts à deux Flutes Traversières sans Basse by the French Baroque composer Michel Pignolet de Montéclair. Here the French word concert is a synonym of “suite”, and has nothing to do with the Italian concerto.
This Moderato is the thirteenth piece from 24 Technische Studien für Flöte (24 Technical Studies), Op. 11, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Leipzig in 1911.
This reel is taken from the 1922 collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody by Francis O'Neill, who cites as a source for the tune the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind Irish fiddler, notated by his student.
This minuet is one of 24 pieces attributed to the famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz to have survived in a manuscript titled Fantasier og Preludier. 8. Capricier og andre Stykker til Øvelse for Flöÿten af Quanz (“Fantasies and Preludes. 8 Caprices and other Pieces for Exercise for the Flute by Quantz”). This manuscript has been kept in the Giedde Collection (named after its founder, Danish composer W.H.R.R. Giedde) in the Royal Library of Copenhagen, which hosts a fairly comprehensive collection of flute music from the second half of the 18th century.
Also known as “Uncle Jim” in Ontario, this tune is a staple of fiddling in that region. It was picked up by American contra dancers, and became associated with the dance Steamboat Quickstep, acquiring the name of the dance. The tune is however quite a bit older, and may have a Scottish or English provenance. North Yorkshire musician and miller Joshua Jackson entered it into his 1798 music manuscript collection under the title “The Minion”.
The present arrangement for two flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833.
Today we propose the fifteenth piece from Exercices journaliers pour la flûte (or Tägliche Studien in German, i.e. “Daily Exercises”) by Austro-Hungarian composer Adolf Terschak. It was first published in 1867.
The author notes that this study should be played twice: first staccato with single tonguing, and then legato.
The earliest appearance of this tune in print is in the first volume of Irish violinist R.M. Levey's Dance Music of Ireland (1858), where it is set as a polka, in 2/4 time. It has also appeared under a few other names, including “Limerick Lads” and “The Pretty Little Boy”.
This giga is the fourth and final movement of the fourth sonata from Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, Op. 19 by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These sonatas were originally published in Paris in 1727.
This is the third movement from a Fantasia per Flauto Solo con accompagnamento di secondo Flauto o Violino (“Fantasia for solo flute with accompaniment for a second flute or violin”) by Italian composer Saverio Mercadante, first published around 1818.
Many thanks to Lutz Kutscher for contributing this piece!
This is the fourteenth piece from 24 Technische Studien für Flöte (24 Technical Studies), Op. 11, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Leipzig in 1911.
The earliest known reference to this reel is in William Vickers's 1770 Northumbrian dance tune manuscript, but unfortunately the tune was recorded on one of the 31 pages that have not survived to the present day. Fiddler Brian Conway notes how the tune is sometimes known as “The Tramps”, while Michael Coleman called it “Maun's Fancy” on an unreleased side from his last recording session in 1944.
This Praeludium in D major is one of 24 pieces attributed to the famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz to have survived in a manuscript titled Fantasier og Preludier. 8. Capricier og andre Stykker til Øvelse for Flöÿten af Quanz (“Fantasies and Preludes. 8 Caprices and other Pieces for Exercise for the Flute by Quantz”). This manuscript has been kept in the Giedde Collection (named after its founder, Danish composer W.H.R.R. Giedde) in the Royal Library of Copenhagen, which hosts a fairly comprehensive collection of flute music from the second half of the 18th century.
This “old-style air” is the ninth movement of the second of six Concerts à deux Flutes Traversières sans Basse by the French Baroque composer Michel Pignolet de Montéclair. Here the French word concert is a synonym of “suite”, and has nothing to do with the Italian concerto.
Today we propose the sixteenth piece from Exercices journaliers pour la flûte (or Tägliche Studien in German, i.e. “Daily Exercises”) by Austro-Hungarian composer Adolf Terschak. It was first published in 1867.
This Scottish reel is attributed to John Cumming by Keith Norman MacDonald in his Skye Collection (1887). Irish collector Francis O'Neill (1922) remarks: “Though plainly of Scotch origin both in name and tone, ‛Cuttie Sark’ is not to be found in any of the old Scotch or Miscellaneous Collections which have been examined. Translated in English, ‛Cutty Sark’ means Short Shirt, or Chemise”.
The Cutty Sark is also the name of one of the most famous “tea clippers” (a type of sleek, fast 19th-century sailing ship, officially designated a “composite built extreme clipper ship”) built, and it is the only ship of its type to survive to the present day.
This is the opening movement of the fifth sonata from Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, Op. 19 by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These sonatas were originally published in Paris in 1727.
This song was composed during the first half of the 19th century by a B. Hime, about whom very little is known. The lyrics go:
Where, as dewy twilight lingers
O'er the balmy air, love,
Harps seem touch'd by fairy fingers,
Wilt thou meet me there, love?
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
This Presto is the fifteenth piece from 24 Technische Studien für Flöte (24 Technical Studies), Op. 11, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Leipzig in 1911.
The only known appearance of this reel in print is in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
This allemande is the second movement of the fifth sonata from Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, Op. 19 by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These sonatas were originally published in Paris in 1727.
This is the fourth movement from a Fantasia per Flauto Solo con accompagnamento di secondo Flauto o Violino (“Fantasia for solo flute with accompaniment for a second flute or violin”) by Italian composer Saverio Mercadante, first published around 1818.
This movement ends on a half cadence, which is resolved at the beginning of the following movement.
Many thanks to Lutz Kutscher for contributing this piece!
Today we propose the seventeenth piece from Exercices journaliers pour la flûte (or Tägliche Studien in German, i.e. “Daily Exercises”) by Austro-Hungarian composer Adolf Terschak. It was first published in 1867.
This Dorian-mode reel is taken from O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. The source for the tune was Patrick Stack, a Chicago fiddler originally from County Kerry, Ireland.
This sarabande is the third movement of the fifth sonata from Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, Op. 19 by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These sonatas were originally published in Paris in 1727.
These two airs “in the style of brunettes” constitute the tenth and last movement of the second of six Concerts à deux Flutes Traversières sans Basse by the French Baroque composer Michel Pignolet de Montéclair. A brunette was a simple, two-part piece typical of the French Baroque era.
This Moderato in A-sharp minor is the sixteenth piece from 24 Technische Studien für Flöte (24 Technical Studies), Op. 11, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Leipzig in 1911.
This reel is taken from Francis O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. O’Neill remarks: “‛Reidy's Reel’ is named after a North Kerry fiddler from whose playing our liberal contributor Mr. Stack learned it in his youth. Altho' reminiscent of other tunes in certain phrases, ‘Reidy's Reel’ was until recently a stranger to Chicago musicians.”
Today's piece is a contribution from the archive of our guest composer Paul Merkus from the Netherlands. Back in 1986 he wrote a three-part “Sonata per flauto e pianoforte” for flute and piano as an exercise to train himself in the traditional and powerful concept of the classical sonata form with three movements, “fast-slow-fast”.
This “Andante Grazioso” is the first gracious movement of that sonata. In the exposition, the frequent use of the characteristic major-seventh chords in the piano accompaniment provides a very distinctive sound. The central development part contains an abundance of modulations, after which the opening theme is heard again in the final recapitulation.