Thursday 2 April 2026
Traditional Irish jig
This tune appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's early-20th-century collections Music of Ireland (1903) and The Dance Music of Ireland (1907), both published in Chicago. O'Neill's source was Chicago police patrolman, piper and flute player John Ennis, originally from County Kildare. Ennis had it from a Chicago session, a “pet tune” of a nameless player who was reluctant to allow it to be collected.
Wednesday 1 April 2026
from “Thirty Easy and Progressive Studies”
This study in double tonguing is the very last piece of Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.
Tuesday 31 March 2026
from Recorder Sonata No. 1
This is the very first movement from a collection of twelve sonatas by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, first published around 1710.
Monday 30 March 2026
Attributed to C.P.E. Bach
This piece appeared in the second of two volumes of works that Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his wife Anna Magdalena. A number of the compositions in this second volume are of questionable authorship, though they are often listed on J.S. Bach's works list. Other family members, including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, are known to have written some of the pieces, one of which might have been this charming March in D major. The piece has a playful melody, and shows that kind of irresistible charm and bouncy exuberance that has typified so much of Mozart's early keyboard works.
Sunday 29 March 2026
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. It is one of the earliest tunes that O'Neill remembered hearing from his boyhood in County Cork, Ireland.
Probably the oldest appearance of this jig is in Alday's Pocket Volume of Airs, Duets, Songs, Marches, etc. (Dublin, 1800), where it is listed under the title “Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself”, although that is also the name of a different 18th-century British tune.
Saturday 28 March 2026
from “30 Caprices for Flute Solo”
This is the thirteenth étude from Sigfried Karg-Elert's 30 Caprices: a “Gradus ad Parnassum” of the modern technique for flute solo. It is marked quasi 2 flauti, meaning that it should almost sound as if it were played by two flutes; which is why it is written as two distinct voices.
Friday 27 March 2026
by Sebastiano Festa, transcribed for four flutes
Sebastiano Festa was an Italian composer of the Renaissance period. While his musical output was small, he was one of the earliest composers of madrigals, i.e. secular (as opposed to religious) songs that were arranged for several vocal parts.
One of Festa's madrigals, “O passi sparsi”, based on a sonnet by Petrarch, acquired some fame beyond Festa's limited circle. It was copied in many manuscripts up to mid-century, and appeared in instrumental arrangements as well.
Thanks to Doug for suggesting this piece!