In its original form, this duet is sung by Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado.
The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Breathe promise of merry sunshine.
As we merrily dance and we sing,
We welcome the hope that they bring
Of a summer of roses and wine.
And that's what we mean when we say that a thing
Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring.
This sarabande is the fifth duet in D major from Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's 55 Easy Pieces, Op. 22. “Mijaurée” is a dialectal term from western France, used to indicate a pretentious woman.
Here is a new study in the Italian style from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. Play this piece as a light waltz, keeping a steady tempo throughout.
This popular Newfoundland folk song was written by Johnny Burke (1851–1930), a Canadian songwriter and musician who was nicknamed the “Bard of Prescott Street”.
The song has been recorded by numerous artists; the version by the Canadian folk-rock band Great Big Sea is sung by Russell Crowe in the 2009 movie State of Play.
This piece is extracted from the second of three pedagogical volumes for the baroque guitar written by Gaspar Sanz. The book, entitled “Libro Segundo de cifras sobre la guitarra española”, was first printed in Saragossa in 1675.
Here is another duet from 55 Easy Pieces by French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier'. This is a bourrée, so it should be played as if to accompany a quick double-time dance.
This is the final movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's third Suite for unaccompanied cello. After the galant spirit of the bourrées, this Gigue restores the lightness of a very bouncy, virtuosic suite.
“Campanas de Belén” (“Bells of Bethlehem”), also known by its opening line “Campana sobre campana” (“Bell over Bell”), is probably the most typical Spanish Christmas song. It originated in the Spanish region of Andalusia, and, unlike many Christmas tunes, it doesn't appear to have an English equivalent.
This song is an example of the very popular musical form of a villancico, which is made up of a refrain (estribillo) alternating with verses (estrofas).
This waltz is taken from a collection of Trois valses brillantes, first published in 1838. The title “Valse brillante”, however, hardly seems appropriate for such a melancholy, subdued work.
The composer Stephen Heller related that Chopin called this slow (Lento) waltz his favorite. When Heller told the Pole that he, too, loved it best, Chopin immediately invited him for lunch at a fashionable café. Frederick Niecks wrote of this piece, “The composer evidently found pleasure in giving way to this delicious languor, in indulging in these melancholy thoughts full of sweetest, tenderest loving and longing.”
This is étude No. 10 from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing, Op. 33. From its very beginning it is evident that this is mainly a study in thirds. It starts off in D major, and explores the keys of G major and E minor before going back to the original key to restate the initial theme.
Not a lot is known about this Austrian Christmas carol and lullaby. The melody is a folk tune from the State of Salzburg, first appeared around 1819, while the German lyrics were published for the first time in 1865 in a folksong collection by Maria Vinzenz Süß, founder of the Salzburg Museum.
This is the last duet in D major from the 55 Easy Pieces by Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. The French word faineant indicates an irresponsible or lazy person.
The tune for this carol first appeared in print in R. Grosjean's Airs des noêl lorrain (1862), where it is called “Ancien air de chasse” (“Old hunting air”). It is indeed the case that an old Normandy hunting tune known as “Tête bizarde”, though in 6/8, is melodically very similar.
English translations of this carol include “He Is Born, the Holy Child”, “He Is Born, The Heav'nly Child”, “He Is Born, The Divine Christ Child”, and many others.
This is the last movement of the famous Piccolo (or Recorder) Concerto in C major by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. The soloist's plethora of fast-note patterns is here even more dazzling that in the first movement, with swirls of colorful sounds and notes tossed about athletically!
This is duet No. 4 from the first volume of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Ernesto Köhler. The upper part is very melodic, while the lower part is more of an accompaniment.
Johann Sebastian Bach's Suite No. 4 for unaccompanied cello is known as one of the most technically demanding of the six cello suites. The Prelude primarily consists of a difficult flowing quaver movement that leaves room for three wave-like cadenzas before returning to its original theme. The composer makes use of repetitive arpeggios to build complex phrases, as he did in the first suite, but here the sense of improvisatory fantasy is stronger: the arpeggio descends in a gradual figure and varies negligibly as it explores a range of keys.
Giddy up, little donkey, giddy up,
Hurry up because we're late,
Giddy up, little donkey, we're going to Bethlehem,
For tomorrow is a holiday and so is the day after.
This is the prelude to the second of the Il pastor fido sonatas, first published in 1737. The composer, Nicolas Chédeville, made a secret agreement with Jean-Noël Marchand to publish a collection of his own compositions as Antonio Vivaldi's Op. 13. Chédeville supplied the money and received the profits, all of which was recorded in a notarial act. This may have been an attempt to give his instrument, the musette, the endorsement of a great composer which it lacked.
This is the first movement from the fourth of Telemann's Sonates sans Basse à deux Flutes traverses, ou à deux Violons, ou à deux Flutes à bec, or “Sonatas without Bass for Two Transverse Flutes, or Two Violins, or Two Recorders”.
This “Largo cantabile” is étude No. 10 from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. While it is a Largo, it shouldn't be played too slowly.
The melody to this French Christmas carol about the Nativity was used by John Gay in his famous The Beggar's Opera in 1728. Since it originated in France and made its way across the channel into that famous English stage effort, it must have been in existence for some decades, because Gay only used familiar tunes for his production. The carol is also popular in English translations, the most common one appearing to be by A.B. Ramsay:
Whence is the goodly fragrance flowing,
Stealing our senses all away,
never the like did come a-blowing,
Shepherds, in flow'ry fields of May,
Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing,
Stealing our senses all away.
The tune “Aurelia” was written in 1864 by organist Samuel S. Wesley, one of the most influential figures in Victorian English Cathedral music. It was originally composed for John Keble's wedding hymn “The voice that breathed o'er Eden”, but it was later used for many other hymns as well, including “The Church's One Foundation” and “Another Year Is Dawning”.
The wonderful arrangement for flute trio and guitar that we present today was kindly contributed by Chris. The piece is an old Japanese air known as “Sakura Sakura”, or simply “Sakura”.
The “Boar's Head Carol” is a 15th-century English Christmas carol that describes the ancient tradition of sacrificing a boar and presenting its head at a wintertime feast. In antiquity the fierce boar was feared and respected; because of its ferocious nature, it was associated with death, just as the winter solstice was associated with the death of light.
Of the several extant versions of the carol, the one most usually performed today is based on a version published in 1521 in Wynkyn de Worde's Christmasse Carolles.
This is duet No. 5 from the first volume of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Ernesto Köhler. As for all duets of the collection, the second flute part is meant to be played by the teacher.
This is étude No. 11 from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. It is a 2/4-time Allegro in ternary form, with a central part marked grandioso, i.e., “majestic”, “grand”.
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Categories: Opera excerpts