Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Gusty's Frolics

Collector George Petrie found this “very old Munster tune” in a manuscript music book, and included it in his 1905 Complete Collection of Irish Music under the misspelled title “Gurty's Frolics”. The same melody had previously appeared in the 19th-century manuscript of musician Stephen Grier (1824–1894) from County Leitrim, but the title there was “Gusty's Frolics”.

Francis O'Neill (1913) identifies the composer of this piece as Gustavis Augustus “Gusty” Nicolls, a landlord and uilleann piper of the late 18th and early 19th century who lived near Carrigallen, in the southern part of County Leitrim. “Blessed with manly beauty, musical talents, and worldly wealth, Augustus earned the reputation of being an irresistible heartbreaker also”, says O'Neill. Nicolls was what would be considered a “gentleman piper” and owned an estate at Rossan in the parish of Aughavas. In addition to his other successes, he was remembered as a noted teacher of the pipes, and especially for his ability to teach disabled people, who often when young were trained as professional musicians to be able to make their way in the world.

Tune of the Day: Study in G minor by Gariboldi

Today we present the tenth study from Italian composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's Etudes mignonnes (Dainty Studies), Op. 131.

Tune of the Day: Affettuoso by Telemann

This is the first movement from the sixth 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”.

Tune of the Day: Procession of the Nobles

The opera-ballet Mlada (which is the name of a main character) was composed between 1889 and 1890 by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

An orchestral suite was derived from the opera by the composer himself in 1903, and included five numbers. The final piece, which is known as the “Procession of the Nobles” and originally opened the second act of the opera, is by far the most famous; with its high-spirited brass fanfares and boisterous percussion, it comes extremely close to being a march... in 3/4 time!

If you find the opening too monotonous, you may want to skip directly to measure 20: that's the main theme.

Thanks to Elizabeth for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Come Up Stairs With Me

This lively 9/8-time jig first appears in Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in 1903.

Tune of the Day: Study in F-sharp minor by Kummer

This is the eleventh study from German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer's 32 Etudes amusantes et instructives, Op. 129, first published in 1858.

Tune of the Day: Allegro assai by Quantz

This is the opening movement of a Flute Duet in A minor that the famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz composed in 1759.