Friday 1 July 2016
from “72 Studies for the Boehm Flute”
This Bolero-like étude in A minor is the sixtieth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
As you may know, the Bolero is a genre of slow-tempo, 3/4-time Latin music, generally associated with the traditional dance of the same name.
Saturday 2 July 2016
Traditional hornpipe tune
This traditional hornpipe tune, probably of American origin, is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in 1905.
Sunday 3 July 2016
Transcribed for flute and keyboard
This courante is taken from Michael Praetorius's Terpsichore (1612), a compendium of more than 300 instrumental dances, which is both his most widely known work, and his sole surviving secular work.
Monday 4 July 2016
Traditional English song, arranged for flute trio
This arrangement of Thomas Phillips's glee “Crows in the Cornfield”, originally composed in the early nineteenth century, is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
See yonder Cornfield where waves the rip’ning grain,
The feather’d race alluring
Who flock the prize to gain.
Tuesday 5 July 2016
from “24 Caprice-Etudes for Flute”
This lively study in E-flat minor is the fourteenth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute. These studies originally served as a proof of the playability of Boehm's improved instrument in all 24 keys, but they are also very useful technical exercises.
Wednesday 6 July 2016
Traditional Irish jig
This traditional Irish jig first appeared in print in the third volume of O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, published circa 1808.
Thursday 7 July 2016
from Partita No. 1, arranged for flute and keyboard
This Presto is the second movement, and first “aria”, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, TWV 41:B1, 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.
Friday 8 July 2016
Arranged for two flutes
We all know Chaminade's Concertino for flute, but sadly her piano works are rarely performed anymore. That includes the beautiful Chaconne for piano, Op. 8, composed in 1878. It is one of Chaminade's earliest works, written when she was just 21. She dedicated it to Madame Chéné, a professor at the Paris Conservatory.
Many thanks to Lily for contributing this arrangement for two flutes!
Saturday 9 July 2016
from “72 Studies for the Boehm Flute”
This “Canzonette” (“little song”) in A-flat major is the sixty-first piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
Sunday 10 July 2016
Traditional American reel
This traditional reel, probably of American origin, is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
Monday 11 July 2016
from Piano Sonata No. 20, transcribed for solo flute
Today we propose an arrangement for solo flute of the Rondo from Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D.959. This lyrical Allegretto consists of relentless flowing triplet movement and endless songful melody. It was popularized by the 1990 TV series Wings, which used an arrangement for piano and strings of the piece as its opening theme.
Thanks to Marian for suggesting this tune!
Tuesday 12 July 2016
from Babiole No. 1 for two flutes
These two bourrées constitute the second movement of the first of Jacques-Christophe Naudot's 6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, Flutes traversieres, Haubois, ou Violons, sans Basse. The French term babiole humbly indicates something of little value or importance, a trifle.
Wednesday 13 July 2016
from “24 Caprice-Etudes for Flute”
This study in B major is the fifteenth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute. These studies originally served as a proof of the playability of Boehm's improved instrument in all 24 keys, but they are also very useful technical exercises.
Thursday 14 July 2016
Traditional Irish jig
This Irish jig is taken from O'Neill 1922 collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody. According to Francis O'Neill, the air had previously appeared in Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith's Irish Minstrel (1824), a volume of songs set to traditional Irish airs.
I spend what I have and I save what I owe,
And what's that to anyone, whether or no?
Friday 15 July 2016
from Partita No. 1, arranged for flute and keyboard
This is the third movement, and second “aria”, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, TWV 41:B1, 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.
Saturday 16 July 2016
A drinking song arranged for two flutes
This arrangement for two flutes of the drinking song “Hey Down Derry” appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833. The song was originally a number in Arthur Clifton's 1822 opera The Enterprise.
Sunday 17 July 2016
from “72 Studies for the Boehm Flute”
This study in thirds is the sixty-second piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
Monday 18 July 2016
Traditional hornpipe tune
This traditional hornpipe tune, probably of English origin, is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
Tuesday 19 July 2016
from Chamber Concerto in A minor, arranged for flute and piano
This Largo is the central movement of Antonio Vivaldi's Chamber Concerto in A minor for recorder, two violins and continuo, RV 108. It was composed around 1716.
Thanks to István for suggesting this piece!
Wednesday 20 July 2016
from Babiole No. 1 for two flutes
This fanfare is the third movement of the first of Jacques-Christophe Naudot's 6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, Flutes traversieres, Haubois, ou Violons, sans Basse. The French term babiole humbly indicates something of little value or importance, a trifle.
Thursday 21 July 2016
from “24 Caprice-Etudes for Flute”
This study is the sixteenth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute. It starts off in A-flat minor, with all 7 flats in the key signature, but soon moves to the enharmonic key of G-sharp minor (5 sharps); it then returns to the original key for a few measures, but only to end up in the parallel key of A-flat major. As you can see, studies such as this one were the perfect way for Boehm to prove the playability of his improved instrument in all 24 keys.
Friday 22 July 2016
Traditional Irish jig
This Irish jig was collected by Chicago police captain Francis O'Neill from a John Kelly of San Francisco, and included in the collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922.
Saturday 23 July 2016
from Partita No. 1, arranged for flute and keyboard
This Vivace is the fourth movement, and third “aria”, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, TWV 41:B1, 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.
Sunday 24 July 2016
Traditional English march
This traditional English march seems to have been first published in London in 1795 on a single sheet by Bland & Weller as one of “Two Favorite New Marches”.
The present arrangement for two flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
Monday 25 July 2016
from “72 Studies for the Boehm Flute”
This syncopated study in A-flat major is the sixty-third piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855. It is composed of a theme, 3 variations, and a coda; the third variation, in particular, is meant as an exercise in double tonguing (that's what the French expression double coup de langue means).
Tuesday 26 July 2016
Traditional English jig
This English jig first appeared in print in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.
Wednesday 27 July 2016
from “12 Variations and Solos for Flute”
This Capriccio in D is the third piece from German-Danish composer Friedrich Kuhlau's 12 Variations and Solos for Flute, Op. 10b, written around 1810. It consists of a common-time Adagio in D minor and a polonaise in D major.
Thanks to Tom for suggesting this piece!
Thursday 28 July 2016
from Babiole No. 1 for two flutes
This “very slow” piece in C minor is the fourth movement of the first of Jacques-Christophe Naudot's 6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, Flutes traversieres, Haubois, ou Violons, sans Basse. The French term babiole humbly indicates something of little value or importance, a trifle.
Friday 29 July 2016
from “24 Caprice-Etudes for Flute”
This study in E major is the seventeenth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute. These studies originally served to demonstrate the playability of Boehm's improved instrument in all 24 keys, but they are also very useful technical exercises.
Saturday 30 July 2016
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from the 1922 collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody by Francis O'Neill, who writes: “This fine jig, remarkable for originality of composition, and the technique essential to giving it adequate expression, is a masterpiece of execution at the hands of the amiable Patrick Stack who obligingly scored it on paper, after charming us with it on his fiddle — Coming from Jerry Breen the much admired blind fiddler of North Kerry, it was preserved in the Rice-Walsh manuscript and is now recorded for print for the first time.”
Sunday 31 July 2016
from Partita No. 1, arranged for flute and keyboard
This Largo is the fifth movement, and fourth “aria”, of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, TWV 41:B1, 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.