Monday 24 March 2025
from Canonic Sonata for Two Flutes No. 3
This is the first movement from Georg Philipp Telemann's third Canonic Sonata for two flutes. It is marked “Spirituoso”, which could simply be translated as “spirited”, or “lively”. It starts off with a brilliant theme in D major, then modulates to A major and B minor in the central section before the return of the theme. As with all canons, both players can play from the same part.
Thanks to Béa for suggesting this piece!
Sunday 23 March 2025
from Sonata in F major by George Frideric Handel
Of the 15 or so sonatas for solo instrument and basso continuo composed by Handel that have at various times been lumped together under the title Opus 1, a full third were originally composed for the recorder. In fact, only the violin is more fully represented in the Opus 1 collection. However, each of the five recorder sonatas from Opus 1 is undoubtedly the product of Handel's pen, whereas a handful of the violin sonatas may well be spurious. They are all splendid examples of Handel's youthful craftsmanship, probably composed before the composer moved to England in 1710.
The fourth and final movement of the recorder sonata in F major, this Gigue is a joyous and infectious reworking of one of Handel's favorite instrumental themes. This kind of piece, also known under the Italian spelling Giga, is to be thought as the music to the lively baroque dance of the same name, which originates from the British jig.
Saturday 22 March 2025
Traditional Irish jig
This jig first appeared, under the title “The Green Forever”, in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, published in Boston in 1883. It was then printed as “The Humors of Ballydehob” in Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland (Chicago, 1903).
Ballydehob (meaning “mouth of the two river fords”) is a coastal village in the southwest of County Cork, Ireland.
Friday 21 March 2025
from “Eighteen Exercises or Etudes for Flute”
This is the seventh étude from 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Thursday 20 March 2025
by Gilles Binchois, arranged for flute trio
The theme of lovers parting recurs as a trope in fifteenth-century song. Both Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, two of the most important Franco-Flemish composers of the early Renaissance, composed popular laments that began with the tearful line “Farewell, my love”. Today we present Binchois's “Adieu m'amour et ma maîtresse”, which was originally composed for three high male voices.
Wednesday 19 March 2025
“As perfect a march as a march can be”
The National Emblem march was composed in 1902 by Edwin Eugene Bagley. It is a standard of the American march repertoire, appearing in eleven published editions.
Bagley composed the score during a 1902 train tour with his family band. He became frustrated with the ending, and tossed the composition in a trash can. Members of the band fortunately retrieved it and secretly rehearsed the score in the baggage car. Bagley was surprised when the band informed him minutes before the next concert that they would perform it. It became the most famous of all of Bagley’s marches. Despite this, the composition did not make Bagley wealthy, for he sold the copyright for $25!
Bagley incorporates into the march the first twelve notes of The Star-Spangled Banner ingeniously disguised in duple rather than triple time. The rest of the notes are all Bagley’s, including the four short repeated A-flat major chords that lead to a statement by the low brass that is now reminiscent of the National Anthem.
The best-known theme of this march is popularly sung in the US with the doggerel verse “and the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole”. In Britain, the same theme is sometimes sung with the words, “have you ever caught your bollocks in a mangle”.
The march has been featured in movies such as Protocol and Hot Shots!.
Tuesday 18 March 2025
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill wrote that his source, piper John Connors from Dublin, was the only one among the traditional music circle to know this jig at the time O'Neill collected it from him in Chicago.
We have no idea what story might be hidden behind this curious title, but a gudgeon is a metal pivot at the end of an axle, around which the wheel turns.
