Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Chaconne

Sigfrid Karg-Elert composed his 30 Caprices for Flute between 1915 and 1918. The German composer wrote them specifically for Carl Bartuzat, a flautist bound for service in the war. These short exercises were designed to challenge linear one-staff thinking and, in short, keep the friend from becoming bored. They are now a standard set of technical, dynamic, and phrasing exercises for flute students all over the world.

The Chaconne, a form taken from the baroque era, is the last and most challenging of the thirty caprices. It is based on a ground bass (“Basso ostinato”) of four notes: F, Eb, Db, C.

Tune of the Day: The Short Grass

This tune first appears in R.M. Levey's first collection of The Dance Music of Ireland (1858) as an untitled jig. The title “The Short Grass” is introduced in Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus No. 2, published around 1864.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the third movement of the first 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: Andante by Mattheson

This Andante is the opening movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major 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 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: Mrs. Spens Monroe

This jig was first printed in the 4th volume of Glasgow publisher James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1796). However, the tune has also had a long history in Ireland, and might have an Irish provenance.

Spens (or Spence) Monroe is a Scottish family name. The fifth President of the United States, James Monroe (1758–1831), is said to have descended from one line of Spens Monroe.

Tune of the Day: La Volta

A “Volta” is a lively Renaissance dance for couples, a known favorite of Queen Elizabeth the first, who loved to dance to it. It is really more a type of piece than a specific piece, but this one by Praetorius is probably the most famous of them all.

A virtuoso organist, an organ builder, a composer and an assiduous musical scholar, Praetorius is celebrated for writing a remarkable three volume musical treatise, the Syntagma musicum, which allows us rare and fascinating glimpses into the musical sensibilities of his time. He was for his time a man of tremendous erudition, a polymath who was well versed in philosophy, theology and languages (including Latin, Greek and Hebrew) in addition to his formidable theoretical and practical understanding of music. Praetorius was also one of the most prolific composers of his generation in Germany, listing over forty volumes of printed music at the end of the Syntagma musicum, including sacred and secular works of all kinds.

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Mattheson

This Allegro is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

Tune of the Day: Study No. 1 in C major

This piece is taken from the first of the three books of studies which make up Köhler's “Progress in Flute Playing”, Op. 33. These books were originally written to complement the course of instruction in Kohler's initial flute method.

Tune of the Day: The Spotted Cow

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. It is related to the popular Irish tune “Lark in the Morning”.

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Braun

This gavotte is the fourth movement of the first 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: Adagio by Mattheson

This is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.

This movement appears to lack a tempo indication in the original manuscripts, but modern editions usually classify it as an Adagio.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor 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: Daniel of the Sun

The earliest appearance of this tune is in Irish violinist R.M. Levey's second collection of The Dance Music of Ireland, published in London in 1873.

This lightly ornamented three-part setting is taken from Francis O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907.

Tune of the Day: Bist du bei mir

This piece is often mistakenly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach due to its inclusion in the famous Notebook for Anna Magdalena, but the aria was actually part of the Stölzel opera Diomedes oder die triumphierende Unschuld (1718), whose score is now lost.

With its infinitely sweet melody, “Bist du bei mir” has recently become a very popular choice for wedding ceremonies and other such occasions.

Tune of the Day: Gavotte by Mattheson

This is the fourth and final movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in B-flat major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708.