Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Pastorale from L'Arlésienne

The second suite derived from Bizet's incidental music for L'Arlésienne opens with a Pastorale, originally the prelude to Act 2 of the play, and the most complete bit of music Bizet had composed for L'Arlesienne that he hadn't already used in the first suite. This broad Andante evokes the rolling Provençal countryside with a simple theme subjected to several treatments and interspersed with gentle, rustic woodwind passages. The middle Andantino notably features the flute and the piccolo as the solo instruments.

Choosing a tempo is not an easy task here. Most editions of the incidental music and of the suite indicate quarter = 54, so this was probably originally marked by Bizet himself. Nonetheless, today the piece is commonly played much faster, at about 80 beats per minute.

Tune of the Day: Moll Roe

In his 1905 book A History of Irish Music, W.H. Grattan Flood writes:

A favourite pipe tune in 1726 was “Moll Roe,” or “Sweet Molly Roe,” written in praise of Miss Molly Roe, the daughter of Mr. Andrew Roe, of Tipperary. The song consisted of ten verses, each of which was written impromptu by ten bucks one night at the County Tipperary Clubhouse, in 1726. I have a long manuscript account of the circumstances under which this once very popular ballad was written, and communicated to a long since defunct magazine, in July, 1773, by Thomas Amory, the last of the assembled guests on the occasion. [...]

The old Irish tune to which this song was set was introduced under the name “Moll Roe” in Henry Brooke's Jack the Giant Queller, in 1748, and it was also called “Moll Roe in the Morning.” O'Keeffe included it in his Poor Soldier, in 1783, and O'Farrell printed it in his now scarce work, A Pocket Companion for the Irish Pipes, in 1810.

A different source for the title is given by Paul de Grae:

The “Moll Roe” referred to was an actual historical person, a redoubtable 17th century lady called Máire Ruadh Ní Mahon, thrice-married chatelaine of Leamaneh Castle in County Clare, whose impressive remains stand beside the road from Ennis up to The Burren (the castle's remains, that is, not Máire Ruadh's). She was a formidable character, who lost her second husband, Conor O'Brien (who built Leamaneh Castle on the occasion of their wedding in 1639, grafting it on to an existing 15th century tower house), fighting Cromwell's invading army. When his grieving soldiers bore his body back to the castle, she shouted from the battlements, “We want no dead men here!”, and refused them entrance. She subsequently married one of Cromwell's lieutenants (thereby securing the castle and lands for her young son), Coronet John Cooper, but some time later when husband no. 2 made some disparaging remark about husband no. 1, she kicked him from an upstairs window and killed him. I don't know who husband no. 3 was, but he must have been a very brave (or foolish) man indeed.

Moll Roe is an anglicization of the Irish Mall (Máire) Ruadh, or Red (haired) Mary.

Tune of the Day: Study in E minor by Kummer

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

Tune of the Day: Presto by Quantz

This Presto is the final movement of a Flute Duet in G major that the famous German flutist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz composed in 1759.

Tune of the Day: Grave by Handel

“Grave” is an Italian adjective which could mean “heavy”, or “severe”; when used as a tempo indication, it directs to play at an extremely slow and solemn pace.

This particular movement is the first of Handel's Sonata in E minor for flute, Op. 1, No. 1b. This work should not be confused with the other flute sonata E minor, No. 1a, which is actually a compilation of Handel's favorite movements from his sonatas. The sonata we are presenting today, instead, was originally written in D minor for the violin, and subsequently transcribed by the composer himself for the Baroque flute.

The rhythm of this piece may look a bit complex at first glance; you must remember, however, that this is meant to be played very slowly. After having listened to the recording, you will see that it is not that difficult after all.

Tune of the Day: Jerry Houlihan

This slip jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. According to Breandán Breathnach's Folk Music and Dances of Ireland (1971), “Jerry Houlihan” belongs to a cycle of tunes originating in the 17th century, or possibly even earlier.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Gariboldi

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