Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: The Joyful Hour

This Irish reel was collected by Chicago police captain Francis O'Neill, who included it in his collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922.

Tune of the Day: Capriccio in C major by Ruge

This is the eleventh piece from a collection of 17 Capricci per Flauto Traverso by Italian flutist and composer Filippo Ruge. Born in Rome around 1725, Ruge appears to have spent most of his professional life in France, and especially in Paris, where several of his compositions were published, ranging from small-scale chamber music to large-scale symphonic works.

Tune of the Day: Preludio by Corelli

Today we propose the opening movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 10 in E major. You may notice that the key signature has only 3 sharps instead of 4, despite the piece being in E major (as testified by the numerous D-sharps). This kind of discrepancy was relatively common during the Baroque period.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Hugues

Today's piece is the fifteenth study from 40 Esercizi per Flauto (40 Exercises for Flute), Op. 101, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Grey Eagle

This is one of the most well known fiddle tunes in the Midwestern United States. The present version is taken from a 1843 music manuscript collection belonging to an unknown American fiddler named G. McMillan. It appears directly above a tune titled “Wagner”, so there is no doubt that the title refers to the famed Kentucky horse race between the two horses, Grey Eagle and Wagner, held in Louisville in 1838.

Tune of the Day: La Kibelberg

This fanfare is the seventh movement of Amusement militaire, a suite for solo instrument (“musette, vielle, flute and oboe” according to the original edition) and continuo by the French Baroque composer Nicolas Chédeville.

As with several other Op. 6 movements, the title probably refers to a German town; possibly Kübelberg, which is located between Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken, about 25 km from the current French border.

Tune of the Day: Hark the Goddess Diana

This tune was originally composed as a vocal duet by English organist and conductor Reginald Spofforth around 1817. The present arrangement for three flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.

Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, moon, hills and wildlife.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Kummer

This is the sixth piece from 24 Etudes mélodiques, Op. 110 by German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer. This collection has also been published in English as 24 Melodic Exercises.

Tune of the Day: Redmond's Frolics

This jig 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.

Tune of the Day: The Road to Aultbea

This lovely short piece for flute and guitar was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, guitarist Peter Pope.

Aultbea is a small fishing village in the North-West Highlands of Scotland.

Tune of the Day: Allemanda by Corelli

This Allemanda is the second movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 10 in E major. You may notice that the key signature has only 3 sharps instead of 4, despite the piece being in E major (as testified by the numerous D-sharps). This kind of “discrepancy” was relatively common during the Baroque period.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Hugues

Today's piece is the sixteenth study from 40 Esercizi per Flauto (40 Exercises for Flute), Op. 101, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Loudon's Bonny Woods and Braes

The title of this piece comes from poet Robert Tannahill's (1774–1810) work; however, the tune was originally “The Earl of Moira's Welcome to Scotland” by Duncan MacIntyre, a Scots dancing master in London at the end of the 18th century.

Tune of the Day: Capriccio in G major by Ruge

This is the twelfth piece from a collection of 17 Capricci for Flauto Traverso by Italian flutist and composer Filippo Ruge. Born in Rome around 1725, Ruge appears to have spent most of his professional life in France, and especially in Paris, where several of his compositions were published, ranging from small-scale chamber music to large-scale symphonic works.

Tune of the Day: L'Allemande

This is the fourth movement of the fourth 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. The title of the movement, “L'Allemande”, translates literally as “The German One”; contrary to what one might think, it is not a reference to the dance of the same name.

Thanks to Marco for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Kummer

This is the fifth piece from 24 Etudes mélodiques, Op. 110 by German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer. This collection has also been published in English as 24 Melodic Exercises.

Tune of the Day: The Rose Garden

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.

Tune of the Day: La Eringen

This gavotte is the eighth and last movement of Amusement militaire, a suite for solo instrument (“musette, vielle, flute and oboe” according to the original edition) and continuo by the French Baroque composer Nicolas Chédeville.

As with several other Op. 6 movements, the title might refer to a German town or locality.

Tune of the Day: Buona notte

This nice little piece for two flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833.

The title, “Buona notte”, is Italian for “Good night”. Unfortunately we were unable to track the origins of the melody.

Tune of the Day: Study in F-sharp minor by Hugues

Today's piece is the seventeenth study from 40 Esercizi per Flauto (40 Exercises for Flute), Op. 101, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: The Devil's Dream

This old fiddle tune, which can be played as either a hornpipe or a reel, is attested to as a popular piece from at least 1834 in New England. Some collectors thought the tune to be of Irish origins, but it has since been traced to a Scottish reel, “The De'il Among the Tailors”, which was composed around 1790.

The tune is notably mentioned in The Return of the Native by English novelist Thomas Hardy, who was also a fiddler and accordion player:

The air was now that one without any particular beginning, middle, or end, which perhaps among all the dances which throng an inspired fiddler's fancy, best conveys the idea of the interminable — the celebrated “Devil's Dream”. The fury of personal movement that was kindled by the fury of the notes could be approximately imagined by these outsiders under the moon, from the occasional kicks of toes and heels against the floor, whenever the whirl round had been of more than customary velocity.

Tune of the Day: The Maple Leaf Forever

This song was written by Alexander Muir in 1867, the year of Canada's Confederation. It became quite popular in English Canada and for many years served as an unofficial national anthem. Because of its strongly British perspective, however, it became unpopular among French Canadians, and this prevented it from ever becoming an official anthem, even though it was seriously considered for that role and was even used as a de facto anthem in many instances.

Muir was said to have been inspired to write this song by a large maple tree which stood on his street in front of Maple Cottage, a house at Memory Lane and Laing Street in Toronto. The tree fell during a windstorm in 2013, and wood from it was used to make objects that will preserve its importance to Canadian culture, including the gavel for the Supreme Court of Canada and the speaker's podium for the Toronto City Council.

Thanks to Phil for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Sarabanda by Corelli

This Sarabanda is the third movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 10 in E major. You may notice that the key signature has only 3 sharps instead of 4, despite the piece being in E major (as testified by the numerous D-sharps). This kind of “discrepancy” was relatively common during the Baroque period.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Kummer

This “Adagio pastorale” is the seventh piece from 24 Etudes mélodiques, Op. 110 by German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer. This study presents an interesting alternation of slow and frantic passages, so you are constantly being reminded that you must always pay attention to both the quality of your tone and rhythmic accuracy.

Tune of the Day: The Kinnegad Slashers

The title of this tune is believed to honor an Irish yeomanry unit called the Kinnegad Cavalry, who, on July 11, 1798, found themselves in defense of the Irish village of Clonard. The attack was repulsed and the attackers dispersed, whereupon the cavalry of the Kinnegad Yeomen pursued them with much slaughter. Their success in this engagement earned them the sobriquet of Kinnegad Slashers.

Some see resemblances to the Scottish tune usually known as “Kenmure's On and Awa'”, but the relationship seems more distant than with other more closely related tunes.

O'Neill, in Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), proposed this tune as the antecedent of the popular “Turkey in the Straw”. However, while there is some resemblance in the first part, the relationship is seen by most as incidental and not relational.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Vivaldi

Today we present an arrangement for flute and piano of the closing movement of Antonio Vivaldi's Recorder Concerto in C minor, RV 441. Originally scored for recorder and strings, this Allegro is rife with treacherous runs and arpeggios that are quite challenging to play on the flute.

Thanks to Betty for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: L'Angloise

This is the fifth movement of the fourth 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. The title of the movement, “L'Angloise”, translates literally as “The English One”.

Thanks to Marco for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in E major by Hugues

This study in triplets is the eighteenth piece from 40 Esercizi per Flauto (40 Exercises for Flute), Op. 101, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Tune of the Day: Rustic Reel

The earliest appearance of this tune in print is in the 4th volume of Edward Riley's Riley's Flute Melodies, published in New York in 1826. In spite of the word ‘reel’ in the title (which usually denotes a fast duple-time tune), this melody is in 6/8 or jig time. “Rustic Reel” is actually the name of a dance, but it is not uncommon for tunes to take on the name of the dance they're most frequently associated with. This particular dance requires lines of three to perform the figures, thus each dancer needs two partners and faces a set of three dancers.

Tune of the Day: Capriccio in G major by Ruge

This is the thirteenth piece from a collection of 17 Capricci for Flauto Traverso by Italian flutist and composer Filippo Ruge. Born in Rome around 1725, Ruge appears to have spent most of his professional life in France, and especially in Paris, where several of his compositions were published, ranging from small-scale chamber music to large-scale symphonic works.

Tune of the Day: The Captive Knight

This was originally a song for voice and piano, authored in the 1820s by English poet Felicia Hemans (lyrics) and her sister Harriet Browne (music). The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.