Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Little Fugue in G minor

Let there be no confusion about it: this fugue for organ, BWV 578, is known as the “Little” Fugue not because it is a work of small importance or because it is an unusually short work, but simply so that it and the much longer and later “Great” G minor Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542, might not be mistaken for one another. Bach probably composed the “Little” G minor Fugue sometime between 1703 and 1707, when he was a young, up-and-coming organist in the city of Arnstadt.

The “Little” G minor's four-and-a-half-measure subject is one of Bach's most widely recognized tunes. During the episodes, Bach employs one of Arcangelo Corelli's most beloved sequential gestures: imitation between two voices on an eighth note upbeat figure that first leaps up a fourth and then falls back down one step at a time.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Clinton

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.

Tune of the Day: The Gallowglass

This melody was originally written by Scots fiddler and composer Nathaniel Gow as “Nathaniel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Brother”, published in 1792, but was later reset by the Irish as a less sombre jig.

A gallowglass was the name for a mercenary soldier, often Scottish, who in ages past fought in Ireland. The Gaelic word is galloglach, which is a combination of two words: gall, a foreigner, and oglach, a soldier. The term is also taken to mean a warrior who is so loyal to the clan that he is willing to die to protect his chieftain.

Tune of the Day: Panis Angelicus

César Franck, a Belgian composer, organist and music teacher who lived in France, was one of the great figures in Romantic music in the second half of the 19th century. One of his best known works is the motet setting “Panis Angelicus”, which was originally written for tenor solo with organ and string accompaniment; later arranging it for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, he incorporated it into his Messe solennelle Opus 12.

“Panis angelicus” (Latin for ‛bread of angels’) is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Make sure you give a good listen to the accompaniment. The organ part of this piece is simply amazing!

Tune of the Day: Prelude by Mattheson

This is the opening movement of a sonata in B-flat major for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Köhler

This étude is taken from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies, Op. 93.

Thanks to Bruno for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Gjendines bådnlåt

Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg first heard this song in 1891, sung by Gjendine Slålien, a dairy maid and folk singer, at her mountain homestead in Vestland. Grieg made the lullaby famous by using its melody in his 19 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op. 66.

Thanks to Leomar for suggesting this tune!

Tune of the Day: Allegro assai by Braun

This is the fourth and final movement of the third of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Sleigh Ride

This little piece, whose German name “Die Schlittenfahrt” means “The Sleigh Ride”, is one of the most popular of Mozart's numerous orchestral dances. Written near the end of his life, it is, like many of the composer's other “German dances”, a Ländler, a simple dance in triple meter that was the predecessor to the waltz. Its most unusual feature, and the one that inspired its nickname, is its original scoring: in addition to a small orchestra of two violins, bass, two flutes, two oboes, two horns, and timpani, it calls for two posthorns and five sleighbells that bounce along on each beat.

Tune of the Day: Study in F major by Clinton

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.

Tune of the Day: The Fardown Farmer

This Irish jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903.

The term ‛fardown’ was used in the 19th and 20th centuries, often by Irish-Americans, to describe someone from Ulster, the northernmost province of Ireland.

Tune of the Day: Adagio in D minor

Alessandro Marcello was a Venetian nobleman who excelled in various areas, including poetry, philosophy, mathematics and, most notably, music. This concerto he wrote in D minor for oboe, strings and basso continuo is perhaps his best-known work. Its worth was attested to by Johann Sebastian Bach, who transcribed it for harpsichord (BWV 974).

The central movement, in particular, is a deeply-felt adagio which aspires to genuine pathos. As such, it has been used effectively in many movies, like The Hunger (with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon), The Firm (with Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman) or the more recent The House of Mirth.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Mattheson

This Allegro is the second movement of a sonata in B-flat major for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in G minor by Köhler

Here is another étude from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing. This triple-meter piece makes heavy use of articulation. It is marked martellato, which translates literally from Italian as ‛hammered’, thus calling for very strong accents.

Tune of the Day: The Old Horned Sheep

This melody was first printed in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883), under the title “The Boss”. It appears to be an amalgam of two old Irish tunes, “Humors of Donnybrook” and “Sweet Biddy Daly”.

Tune of the Day: Largo by Braun

This Largo is the opening movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Das klinget so herrlich

This is definitely one of the most hilarious scenes from The Magic Flute. It's at the end of Act I. Papageno and Pamina are looking for Tamino, but their search is interrupted by Monostatos, who mocks them and prepares to tie them up. Pamina and Papageno fear the worst, when Papageno remembers his Magic Bells: “He who dares has all to win!.” He lets the little bells sing out. Monostatos and the Slaves are entranced, and they all dance away singing this joyful song:

It sounds so happy,
Sounds so gay!
Larala la la larala!
Let’s sing and dance our time away!
Larala la la larala!

Tune of the Day: Consolation

This étude is taken from Ernesto Köhler's 25 Romantic Studies, Op. 66. It starts off with a melancholic D-minor theme to be played expressively and “with full voice” (piena voce). The subsequent passage is marked con rassegnazione, i.e. “with resignation”. Some technical difficulty is then brought in by the sixteenth-note runs starting at measure 20.

Tune of the Day: Adieu Dundee

This tune has a rich history, probably dating back to the 16th century. It is first found, under the title “Adew Dundee”, in the Skene lute manuscript of c. 1620, and it later appears as “Bonnie Dundee” in the 1688 Appendix of Playford’s Dancing Master. In Ireland it is also known as “The Laccarue Boys”, a title first found in Francis O'Neill's early-20th-century collections.

Tune of the Day: Entrance of the Gladiators

This is actually a military march composed in 1897 by the Czech composer Julius Fučík. He originally titled it “Grande Marche Chromatique”, reflecting the use of chromatic scales throughout the piece, but eventually changed the title based on his personal interest in the Roman Empire.

In 1910 Canadian composer Louis-Philippe Laurendeau arranged “Entrance of the Gladiators” for a small band under the title “Thunder and Blazes”, and sold this version throughout North America. It was during this period that the song gained lasting popularity as a screamer march for circuses, often used to introduce clowns.

Tune of the Day: Adagio by Mattheson

This very short Adagio is the third movement of a sonata in B-flat major for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Andersen

This has to be one of the most beautiful études written for the flute. The only apparent problem is that it is completely made up of sixteenth-note triplets, and has no rests whatsoever. Some advanced flutists play it using circular breathing, but don't worry: if you'll take careful, musical breaths everything will sound just as fine.

Thanks to Austin for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Morfa'r Frenhines

This is an old Welsh tune, whose title is usually translated as “The Queen's Marsh”. It is traditionally played on the harp as a slow air, but it also works very well when played at a faster tempo, as if it were a lilting waltz.

Thanks to Joe for suggesting this tune!

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Braun

This Allegro is the second movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.

Tune of the Day: Mazurka Op. 7, No. 1

The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter with, characteristically, the first beat of the measure subdivided into a dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note. It is usually played at a lively tempo, with a heavy accent on the third or second beat.

Chopin's genius enabled him to devise numerous variants of this basic pattern without ever obliterating it completely. He composed 58 Mazurkas, and many of his other works of different genres are either inspired by the Mazurka or have parts of Mazurkas within them. It was he alone who put the Mazurka on the public stage and refined it into the highest art of music.

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Gariboldi

Today's tune is a simple, moderate-tempo study from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies.

Tune of the Day: Sergeant Stack's Favorite

This lively jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. The Sergeant Stack of the title was Patrick Stack, who worked together with O'Neill in the Chicago Police force.

Musician and researcher Paul de Grae observes that “the recurring feature of four notes in the time of three is carefully notated, and must have been a prominent feature of Stack's playing”.

Tune of the Day: Ecossaise in G major

The écossaise is a variety of contredance (a folk dance in which couples dance in two facing lines) in a Scottish style, characterized by a very proud rhythm. It was especially popular in France and England at the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th.

As a musical form it was used by some classical composers like Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin, who wrote a number of écossaises for the piano which are recognized for their liveliness.

Tune of the Day: Chaconne by Mattheson

This is the fourth and final movement of a sonata in B-flat major for two flutes by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study in E minor by Köhler

This étude, No. 6 of the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing, is a nice exercise in octave-jumping, but also contains arpeggios and short chromatic runs. After a development of the ideas stated in the introduction and a repetition of the initial theme, the piece ends in a fast coda, marked “Vivace”.