Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Stolta Stad!

“Stolta stad!” is one of Sweden's most famous 18th-century songs, written by the legendary poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman as Fredman's Epistle No. 33. The piece is a musical irony, setting a grand, rigid military march melody against a comedic, chaotic story about working-class citizens taking a rowboat ferry across Stockholm.

Bellman was primarily a master of parody, and rarely composed original melodies from scratch. The tune for “Stolta Stad!” was said by scholar Nils Afzelius to come from the aria “Regardez ces traits” in Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's 1761 opera Le cadi dupé, but this claim has been actively disputed by musicologists such as James Massengale. Comparing the score to Monsigny's aria side-by-side with Bellman's Epistle 33, one finds that the phrasing, rhythm, and melodic contours do not match up cleanly enough to prove an indisputable direct influence.

Tune of the Day: Study in B minor by Kummer

This is the third 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 by Scherer

This is the opening Allegro of a Sonata in D major written for three German flutes by Johann Scherer, a German composer of the 18th century.

Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Libiamo ne' lieti calici

“Libiamo ne'lieti calici” (literally, “Let's drink from the merry chalices”) is the most famous duet from Verdi's La traviata, one of the most well known fragments of opera around the world, and an obligatory performance for any great tenor. The song is categorised as a brindisi, which is Italian for “toast”. Those who have performed it include Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Enrico Caruso, Andrea Bocelli, Anna Netrebko and many others.

The duet is performed by Alfredo and Violetta in the first act of the opera, at a late-night party at Violetta's house. Alfredo is a young man in love with Violetta, and he is convinced by his friend Gastone to show off his voice, so he sings this drinking song.

Tune of the Day: The Irish Girl

This 9/8-time jig first appears in Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill's source for this tune was fiddler John McFadden, born in the 1850s in the townland of Carrowmore, near Westport, County Mayo in western Ireland.

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Gariboldi

This is the very first study from Italian composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's Etudes mignonnes (Dainty Studies), Op. 131.

Tune of the Day: Duet in G major by Hugues

This is the fifth duet from La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.

Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!