Monday 11 November 2024
for flute and continuo
This minuet is one of the pieces attributed to the famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz to have survived in a manuscript titled Fantasier og Preludier. 8. Capricier og andre Stykker til Øvelse for Flöÿten af Quanz (“Fantasies and Preludes. 8 Caprices and other Pieces for Exercise for the Flute by Quantz”). This manuscript has been kept in the Giedde Collection (named after its founder, Danish composer W.H.R.R. Giedde) in the Royal Library of Copenhagen, which hosts a fairly comprehensive collection of flute music from the second half of the 18th century.
Sunday 10 November 2024
Traditional Irish jig
The earliest appearance of this tune is in Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903.
Dingle is a small port town on southwest Ireland's Dingle Peninsula, known for its rugged scenery, trails and sandy beaches.
Saturday 9 November 2024
from “Progress in Flute Playing”
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.
Friday 8 November 2024
from “Riccardo Primo, re d'Inghilterra”, arranged for 4 flutes
Riccardo Primo (Italian for Richard the First) is one of Handel's unjustly neglected operas, and musically speaking it is arguably one of his finest. The German-English composer wrote the work as homage to the newly crowned King George II and to the nation of England, where he had just received citizenship.
The plot of the opera is based around the eponymous hero, King Richard the Lionheart, and his marriage to Constanza, a Spanish princess. On her sea journey to be married to Riccardo, Costanza and her party are shipwrecked off the coast of Cyprus, where they find shelter at the court of the local governor, Isacio. Upon seeing Costanza, Isacio makes violent advances towards her, and has the idea to send his daughter, Pulcheria, in place of Costanza to Riccardo, whilst keeping the real Costanza for himself.
The triumphal march we present today is taken from the end of the third and final act of the opera. It is played after Riccardo triumphs over Isacio, so that he can finally pledge eternal fidelity to Costanza. In the original setting, the march is played by two trumpets, oboes and strings.
Thursday 7 November 2024
Jacques Offenbach's “Galop infernal“ from “Orpheus in the Underworld”
Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers) is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, culminating in this well-known “galop infernal” which has often been copied and has widely been used as the background music for the can-can dance.
The can-can is regarded today primarily as a physically demanding music hall dance, performed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings, that hearkens back to the fashions of the 1890s. The main features of the dance are the lifting up and manipulation of the skirts, with high kicking and suggestive body movements.
As you will notice, the main theme is first presented in G major, and then reiterated in D major.
Wednesday 6 November 2024
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in 1903. A Cape Breton jig titled “Northside Kitchen” shares a closely related first strain.
Tuesday 5 November 2024
from “20 Petites Etudes”
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.