Tuesday 1 September 2020
by Ricky Lombardo
Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by composer Ricky Lombardo. It is the second of three pieces for solo flute published earlier this year under the name Quarantunes.
Many thanks to Ricky Lombardo for making this piece freely available and for letting us publish it!
Wednesday 2 September 2020
Traditional air
This flute duet appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. The arrangement is probably based on a traditional air, possibly from Portugal, but we were unable to trace its exact origins.
Thursday 3 September 2020
from “24 Studies for the Development of Technique”
This is the fifteenth piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
Friday 4 September 2020
Traditional Irish air
This Irish air is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. O'Neill's source was James Whiteside, the “Bard of Bray”, County Wicklow.
Clare is a county in the Mid-West Region of Ireland, bordered on the West by the Atlantic Ocean.
Saturday 5 September 2020
by Ricky Lombardo
Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by composer Ricky Lombardo. It is the third of three pieces for solo flute published earlier this year under the name Quarantunes.
Many thanks to Ricky Lombardo for making this piece freely available and for letting us publish it!
Sunday 6 September 2020
from “36 Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants”
This piece is the twenty-third duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Monday 7 September 2020
from “40 New Studies”
Today's piece is the twelfth study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the twenty-third piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
Tuesday 8 September 2020
Traditional Irish air
This tune comes from the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind fiddler from North Kerry, Ireland. His tunes were noted down by Thomas Rice, a talented pupil, and later copied by his friend James P. Walsh.
Wednesday 9 September 2020
from Recorder Sonata in G minor
This is the opening movement of the fourth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
Thursday 10 September 2020
arranged for two flutes
This arrangement for two flutes of Robert Burns's celebrated song “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose” appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833.
Friday 11 September 2020
from “24 Studies for the Development of Technique”
This challenging étude in A-sharp minor is the sixteenth piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
Saturday 12 September 2020
Traditional Irish air
Slievenamon (“Mountain of the Women”) is a 2,365 ft tall mountain in south County Tipperary, Ireland. The mountain is said to have derived its name from the ancient fairy women or Feimhin, who enchanted a warrior named Fionn mac Cumhaill and his followers.
In his 1922 collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, Francis O'Neill writes: “This fine air which runs to the unusual number of 14 bars in each part was sent me by a Dublin friend, Mr. M. Flanagan, a distinguished linguist and scholar. In his leisure moments, he enjoys the music of his fiddle, and union pipes, being a skillful performer on both instruments. [...] Whether suitable to the meter of the melody or not, Mr. Flanagan's charming verses will be no less appreciated than his music.”
Alone all alone by the wave washed strand
All alone in a crowded hall
The hall it is gay and the waves they are grand
But my heart is not here at all
It flies far away by night and by day
To the times and the joys that are gone
And I never will forget the sweet maiden I met
In the valley near Slievenamon.
Sunday 13 September 2020
from Flute Sonata in D major
This Presto is the fourth and final movement of the second of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
Monday 14 September 2020
from “36 Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants”
This piece is the twenty-fourth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Tuesday 15 September 2020
from “40 New Studies”
Today's piece is the fourtieth study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the twenty-fourth piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
Wednesday 16 September 2020
Traditional Irish air
This air is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922). O'Neill remarks:
The above setting differs not materially from that in Clinton's 200 Irish Melodies for Flute, Dublin 1840. Under the same name a much simpler version appears in Haverty's 300 Irish Airs, New York 1858, having but the exceptional number of 13 bars altogether. To the editor this strain was known in boyhood days as “Tow Row Row”, both names being taken from the first line of the song “Tow Row Row, Paddy, will you now”, which song by the way cannot be found in any Irish collection at present available.
Thursday 17 September 2020
from Recorder Sonata in G minor
This is the second movement of the fourth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
This movement has actually no tempo indication in the original manuscript, but it usually appears as an “Allegro” in modern editions.
Friday 18 September 2020
Traditional air
This flute duet appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. The arrangement is, according to sheet music of the time, based on “a much admired Spanish seguidilla”, to which Irish poet Thomas Moore wrote the following lyrics:
Remember the time, in La Mancha's shades,
When our moments so blissfully flew;
When you called me the flower of Castilian maids,
And I blushed to be called so by you;
When I taught you to warble the gay seguadille.
And to dance to the light castanet;
Oh, never, dear youth, let you roam where you will,
The delight of those moments forget.
Saturday 19 September 2020
from “24 Studies for the Development of Technique”
This étude in F major is the seventeenth piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
Sunday 20 September 2020
Traditional Irish tune
This march is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. O'Neill writes:
This spirited march was memorized by the writer in early life; all circumstances relating to its acquirement being now forgotten. We have no assurance of its Gaelic origin, yet few would deny that it was worth preserving at least. For obvious reasons, a name has been supplied for its identification.
Monday 21 September 2020
from Flute Sonata in B-flat major
This rhythmically elaborate Andante is the opening movement of the third of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
Watch out for the massive syncopation in measures 32 to 36!
Tuesday 22 September 2020
from “36 Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants”
This piece is the twenty-fifth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Wednesday 23 September 2020
from “30 Studies”
Today's piece is the second study from 30 Studi, Op. 32, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thursday 24 September 2020
Traditional Scottish tune
This tune is taken from Volume 5 of James Aird's A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1797). Tune collector Francis O'Neill noted that the tune is almost identical to “Captain Hillman's March”, which was also published in Aird's Selection.
Friday 25 September 2020
from Recorder Sonata in G minor
This is the third movement of the fourth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
The movement starts off and spends most of its time in E-flat major, but in the last three measures it modulates back to the main key of the sonata, G minor, and finally ends on a half cadence which prepares the ground for the final movement.
Saturday 26 September 2020
arranged for two flutes
This flute duet appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. The arrangement is probably based on an 18th-century waltz from central Europe, but unfortunately we were unable to trace its exact origins.
Sunday 27 September 2020
from “24 Studies for the Development of Technique”
This étude in D minor is the eighteenth piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
Monday 28 September 2020
Traditional Irish tune
This march 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.
Tuesday 29 September 2020
from Flute Sonata in B-flat major
This Largo is the second movement of the third of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
Wednesday 30 September 2020
from “36 Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants”
This piece is the twenty-sixth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.