This bourrée is the fourth 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.
Caprice No. 24 is the final piece in Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, a famous collection of études for solo violin composed between 1802 and 1817. This last piece is in the key of A minor, and consists of a theme, 11 variations, and a finale. It is widely considered one of the most difficult pieces ever written for solo violin.
This lively jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music Of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907.
Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Paul Merkus from the Netherlands.
This Berceuse is a short but gentle duet for two flutes, accompanied by harp. Alternatively, it can also be played as an unaccompanied duet or with guitar or piano accompaniment. It was originally written as a piano piece back in the year 2000, but has recently been arranged for this line-up.
This minuet is the fifth and final 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.
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.
This jig was first published in Glasgow by James Aird, in the first volume of his Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1782).
The Wicklow Mountains in south-eastern Ireland are granite formations shaped by the collision of continental plates. As the rock cooled, cracks formed, which were filled with mineral dense hot fluids, that eventually formed veins of metal ore. Various metals have been extracted from the Wicklows since the Bronze Age, but the title of this tune probably refers to the lead mines that came to the Vale of Avoca in the 1750s.
Still as popular as ever for wedding services, this piece is often referred to as Schubert's Ave Maria, but it was originally composed as a setting of a song from Walter Scott's popular epic poem The Lady of the Lake. In Scott's poem the character Ellen Douglas, the “Lady of the Lake” has gone with her father to hide in the “Goblin's cave” nearby to avoid drawing the vengeance of the King on their host, the Clan-Alpine chieftain Roderick Dhu, who has been affording them shelter since the King had exiled them. She sings a prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary, calling upon her for help. Ellen is overheard by Roderick Dhu who is higher on the mountain, raising the clan for war.
The opening words and refrain of Ellen's song, namely “Ave Maria” (Latin for “Hail Mary”), may have led to the idea of adapting Schubert's melody as a setting for the full text of the traditional Roman Catholic prayer Ave Maria. The Latin version of the Ave Maria is now so frequently used with Schubert's melody, that it has led to the misconception that he originally wrote the melody as a setting for the Ave Maria.
This is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in F major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.
This étude is taken from the first book of Italian composer Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing. It is made up of two parts: a first part in A minor (but full of accidentals) that moves mostly in thirds and a second part in A major.
Thanks to Neri for suggesting this piece!
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill's source for this tune was Chicago fiddler James Kennedy, who in turn had it from his father, Peter, a celebrated local fiddler from Ballinamore, County Leitrim.
This is the second 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.
This Allegro is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in F major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.
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.
The melody is vaguely reminiscent of the Scottish folk song “My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean”.
This jig is taken from Chicago police officer Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in 1903.
This is one of the most famous arias from the opera Carmen. Sung by the matador Escamillo, it describes various situations in the ring, the cheering of the crowds and the fame that comes with victory.
If you haven't figured out what song this is yet, download the MP3 or the MIDI and listen to the final part, the one in F major. That is the part that almost everybody knows; if you want, you may well start playing from there.
Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Paul Merkus from the Netherlands.
This is a short but gentle duet for two flutes, accompanied by harp. Alternatively, it can also be played as an unaccompanied duet or with guitar or piano accompaniment. It was originally written as a piano piece back in the year 2000, but has recently been arranged for this line-up.
Here is another study from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing. This is a cheerful, extroverted Allegretto, mostly based on G-major scales and arpeggios, which also features some short B-minor, D-major and chromatic passages.
The jig, taken from Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903), is a composite melody, made up of two separate tunes grafted together. O'Neill himself identified an old time jig named “We'll all take a Coach and Trip it Away”, a five-part tune printed in O'Farrell's National Irish Music (1797–1800), as the precursor to his “The Old Grey Goose”.
O'Neill's story is that the version he printed came about in a rather circuitous fashion, beginning in the 1880s when a renowned Irish piper by the name of John Hicks played a venue in Chicago. On that occasion several of his tunes were memorized by local musicians and subsequently entered Irish-American tradition in that city. Hicks's tune is the 1st and 3rd parts of “Old Grey Goose”. O'Neill himself heard the 1st and 2nd parts as a jig played by County Leitrim fiddler James Kennedy, who called it “The Geese in the Bogs”, and when he dictated the melody to his collaborator, fiddler James O'Neill, he discovered James had a manuscript version with six parts. Somewhat arbitrarily, they decided to use the last three parts of James O'Neill's manuscript version, together with the three obtained from Hicks and Kennedy, and, since they already had a tune by the name of “Geese in the Bogs” they decided to call the piece “Old Grey Goose”.
This Aria is the third 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.
This loure (a French Baroque dance) is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in F major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.
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.
This jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's collections Music of Ireland and The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903 and 1907 respectively.
The greatest hit of Luigi Boccherini, this Minuet in A major is taken from his Quintet in E major for two violins, viola, and two cellos. It is quintessential Rococo, a delightful confection that has become known to an enormous audience in its various arrangements as the embodiment of the final years of the Ancien Régime in Europe.
Boccherini was primarily a composer of chamber music, although his symphonies and concerti have considerable merit. He produced more than 100 quintets, more than 100 quartets, more than 50 trios, and more than 50 chamber works in other forms.
Perhaps because his most significant work consists of chamber music and symphonies, Boccherini has often been compared to Joseph Haydn, usually to his disadvantage, like Vivaldi in relation to Johann Sebastian Bach.
Today's piece is a dreamy reverie, kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Paul Merkus from the Netherlands.
This is a short but gentle duet for two flutes, accompanied by harp. Alternatively, it can also be played as an unaccompanied duet or with guitar or piano accompaniment. It was originally written as a piano piece back in the year 2000, but has recently been arranged for this line-up.
This elegant, graceful waltz is taken from Ernesto Köhler's 25 Romantic Studies, Op. 66. The only real difficulty here lies in the large intervals. Try to keep a steady tempo throughout the piece, and to differentiate repeated phrases with a careful use of dynamics.
This jig belongs to the Tenpenny Bit family of tunes. The title “Made in Ireland” is unique to Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
This Aria is the fourth 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.
This gigue is the fourth and final movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in F major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.
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.