Sunday 2 January 2011
Tune of the Day: Ranz des Vaches
from “William Tell” by Gioachino Rossini, arranged for Flute and Piano
This piece is the third of four parts that make up the William Tell overture. You may have already heard it, as this particular segment is often used in animated cartoons to signify daybreak. The orchestral version of the excerpt features the flute and the oboe as the solo instruments; in our transcription we have kept the original flute part, and added a piano accompaniment.
This section of the overture 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.