This arrangement for four flutes of George Frideric Handel's famous Sarabande in D minor was kindly contributed by Bruno. You may have heard the piece in one of the many movies that featured it, such as Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.
An arrangement of the same piece for flute and piano is also available in our collection.
This unmetered Impromptu in E minor is the sixty-fourth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
This E-minor reel, probably of Irish origin, is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905. The title perhaps refers to the same “J. Hand” or Johnny Hand to whom several tunes are attributed to in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883).
The Gnossiennes are piano compositions written by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century. They are mostly in free time (lacking time signatures or bar divisions) and highly experimental with form, rhythm and chordal structure.
This third Gnossienne, composed around 1890, contains a number of very unusual indications: “Conseillez-vous soigneusement” (“advise yourself carefully”), “Munissez-vous de clairvoyance” (“arm yourself with clairvoyance”), “Seul, pendant un instant” (“alone, for a moment”), “De manière à obtenir un creux” (“so as to form a hollow”), “Très perdu” (“very lost”), “Portez cela plus loin” (“carry it further”), “Ouvrez la tête” (“open your head”), “Enfouissez le son” (“bury the sound”).
These two minuets constitute the closing 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.
This Allegro in C-sharp minor is the eighteenth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German flutist and inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute. The study features an ending in the parallel major key of C-sharp major, with all seven sharps in the key signature.
This Irish jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's 1907 collection Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems. It is the descendant of an older Scottish pipe jig called “The Glasgow Gaelic Club”, which was probably composed by the piper William Gunn (c. 1788–1867), who was for a while piper to the Glasgow Gaelic Club.
This syncopated piece, carrying no tempo indication, is the sixth movement, and fifth “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.
This piece is the third of four parts that make up the overture of William Tell by Gioacchino Rossini. The section is named after the simple melody traditionally played on the horn by the Swiss Alpine herdsmen as they drove their cattle to or from the pasture. It is said that this tune, when played in foreign lands, produces on a Swiss an almost irrepressible yearning for home.
Many thanks to Lily for contributing this arrangement for three flutes!
This Allegretto in G-flat major is the sixth-fifth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855. It is probably for educational reasons that the last few measures of this étude are written out twice, once in G-flat major and once in the enharmonic key of F-sharp major.
Today's melody was composed by English songwriter and organist James Hook (1746–1827).
He piped so sweet, and danced so gay,
Alas! he stole my heart away!
One of Chopin's most famous pieces, Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor was written by the Polish composer for his older sister, with the statement: “To my sister Ludwika as an exercise before beginning the study of my second Concerto”. It was only published 26 years after the composer's death, and is now often referred to as “Lento con gran espressione”, from its tempo marking. It has been featured in a number of movies and TV series.
Many thanks to Lily for contributing the present arrangement for flute and piano!
This “gracious” piece constitutes the opening movement of the second 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.
This waltz-like study in A major is the nineteenth 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.
This Irish jig is taken from the 1922 collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody by Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill, who remarks: “This rare jig tune […] has haunted my memory for years”.
This Allegro is the seventh movement, and sixth “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.
This duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833. The title refers to a poem by Sir Walter Scott, “The Song of Harold Harfager”, which appeared in his 1822 novel The Pirate.
The sun is rising dimly red,
The wind is wailing low and dread;
From his cliff the eagle sallies,
Leaves the wolf his darksome valleys;
In the midst the ravens hover,
Peep the wild-dogs from the cover,
Screaming, croaking, baying, yelling,
Each in his wild accents telling,
“Soon we feast on dead and dying,
Fair-hair’d Harold’s flag is flying.”
For the curious, Harald Harfager, also known as Harald Fairhair, was the first King of Norway; according to tradition, he reigned from circa 872 to 930.
This restless study in gruppettos (a.k.a. turns) is the sixty-sixth piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
Today's tune is a traditional Scottish strathspey in B-flat major from Harding's All Round Collection, published in 1905.
This gigue is the fourth and last movement from Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonata No. 7 in D minor, which was originally published in 1700 as part of his 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5. As conductor Andrew Manze put it, this is “arguably the finest and most influential set of violin sonatas ever assembled. All other baroque sonatas can be defined as being pre- or post-Corelli'”.
These two minuets, in C major and C minor respectively, constitute the second movement of the second 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.
This Andante in F-sharp minor is the twentieth piece of a collection of 24 “Caprice-Études” for flute by Theobald Boehm, the German flutist and inventor who perfected the modern Western concert flute.
This traditional Irish jig is taken from O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, published around 1806.
This is the opening movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 3 in C minor, TWV 41:c1, 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.
This song, originally for voice and piano, was written by Austrian composer and pianist Sigismund von Neukomm (1778–1858).
The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth's wide regions round.
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
This jumpy étude is the sixty-seventh piece from French flutist and composer Louis Drouet's 72 Studies on Taste and Style for the Boehm Flute, published in 1855.
This Traditional English reel in C major is taken from Harding's All Round Collection, published in 1905.
This Allegretto is the final movement of the fourth of 5 Divertimentos for three basset horns composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from 1783 to 1785. These pieces were later rearranged for solo piano and published as the Six Viennese Sonatinas, which is why this piece is also known as the Allegro from Sonatina No. 1.
This fanfare is the third movement of the second 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.
This Presto in D major is the twenty-first 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.
This jig was composed by the famous 18th-century gentleman musician Walker ‘Piper’ Jackson, of the townland of Lisduan, County Limerick, Ireland. Jackson was one of the first Irish tune composers to have had their music published. “Jackson's Dream” was part of the 13 compositions that were published by Samuel Lee in Dublin in the circa-1774 booklet Jackson's Celebrated Irish Tunes.