Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Land of Hope and Glory

The music to which the words of the refrain “Land of hope and glory…” are set is the Trio theme from Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. The words were fitted to the melody on the suggestion of King Edward VII, who told Elgar he thought the melody would make a great song. When Elgar was requested to write a work for the King's coronation, he worked the suggestion into his Coronation Ode, for which he asked the poet and essayist A. C. Benson to write the words. The last section of the Ode uses the march's melody.

In the USA and Canada this march is also known as “The Graduation Song”, as it is played at graduation ceremonies. This custom was created when Elgar was awarded an honorary doctorate at Yale University, and the orchestra performed Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1 for the ceremony.

Tune of the Day: The Barronstown Races

This jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's early-20th-century collections.

The title refers to the Barronstown area in county Tipperary, home to the racecourse which, from 1848 to 1915, hosted the Tipperary horse races.

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Gariboldi

Here is another easy study from Giuseppe Gariboldi's Vingt petites études, or Twenty Studies. This Allegretto in waltz time starts off with a succession of eighth notes marked “deciso” (determined, resolute), which gives way to a lighter, graceful theme.

Tune of the Day: Fossils

In this funny piece from Le Carnaval des Animaux, Saint-Saëns mimics his own composition, the Danse Macabre, which makes heavy use of the xylophone to evoke the image of skeletons playing card games, the bones clacking together to the beat. The musical themes from Danse Macabre are also quoted. Allusions to “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” (better known in the English-speaking world as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”), the French nursery rhymes “Au Clair de la Lune” and “J'ai du bon tabac”, the popular anthem “Partant pour la Syrie” as well as the aria “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini's The Barber of Seville can also be heard. The musical joke in this movement is obviously that the musical pieces quoted are the fossils of his time.

Tune of the Day: Giga by Braun

This gigue is the fifth and final 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: The Bashful Maid

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill obtained this tune from Father James K. Fielding, a Chicago Catholic priest and flute player from County Kilkenny.

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Köhler

Here is étude No. 14 from the first book of Ernesto Köhler's Progress in Flute Playing. It is a study in intervals, mainly in the key of A major but with a calmer central section that starts off in C major but in the end modulates back to A major.

Thanks to Neri for suggesting this piece!