This is the second movement of a Sonata in E written for three German flutes by Johann Scherer, a German composer of the 18th century.
Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!
Today we propose étude No. 15 from Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler's 25 Romantic Studies, Op. 66. You should give the impression that this piece is played by two flutists, one playing the melodic phrase and the other playing the accompaniment.
The earliest appearance of this slip jig is in Chicago Police captain Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in 1903. Quite suitably, the tune is also known as “There is No Milk in the House”.
As the name says, this fourteenth movement is the grand finale of Saint-Saëns's most famous work, Le Carnaval des Animaux. This piece can be heard in the animated Disney film Fantasia 2000, in which a flock of flamingos is annoyed by another flamingo playing with a yo-yo and attempt to make him fall into step with their dance routines. It is important to observe that, although the melody of the Finale is relatively simple, the supporting harmonies which show up in the original arrangement are heavily ornamented with dazzling scales, glissandi and trills.
Thanks to Luis for suggesting this piece!
This is the fourth 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!
This piece, to be played “a little bit agitated, but well-phrased”, is the twenty-seventh étude from Sigfried Karg-Elert's 30 Caprices: a “Gradus ad Parnassum” of the modern technique for flute solo.
This 9/8-time jig is taken from O'Neill's collection The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. “Aisy” is just an old form of the word “easy”, still used by a lot of people in Ireland.
The tune is almost certainly a descendant of a Scottish air and dance tune known as “Woo'd and Married and a'”, dating back to the early 18th century.
The second movement of Handel's Sonata in C major for recorder and continuo is in 3/8 time. With its 132 bars, it is among the longest movements of the Opus 1 sonatas.
This Allegro in E minor is the third movement of the second Sonata for three flutes by Johann Scherer.
Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!
This is the very first study from German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer's 32 Etudes amusantes et instructives, Op. 129, first published in 1858.
Many versions of this old slip jig exist, with the earliest record being in Hime's Collection of Favorite Country Dances for the Present Year 1799 (Dublin, 1799). The version we present today is taken from Francis O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907.
Although Czech composer Julius Fučík is best known for his march “Entrance of the Gladiators”, his real signature piece is this “Florentine March”, written during the composer's long stint as leader of the Royal and Imperial Army's military band. It's a happy, spirited piece in the vein of Johann Strauss's Radetzky March, and a standard selection on concerts of light band and orchestral music. The piece was composed in 1900 as a grand march for an opera never completed. Its original title was “La Rosa di Toscana” (“The Rose of Tuscany”), which was an appellation of the Tuscan city of Florence.
Thanks to Ines for suggesting this piece!
This Vivace in G minor opens the fourth of Belgian Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Loeillet's second book of Six sonatas of two parts, made on purpose for two German flutes, first published in London in 1720.
This “very fast, sparkling” piece is the twenty-ninth étude from Sigfried Karg-Elert's 30 Caprices: a “Gradus ad Parnassum” of the modern technique for flute solo.
The earliest appearance of this slip jig is in Chicago Police captain Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music of Ireland, published in 1907.
Ballysadare (Baile Easa Dara in Irish, meaning “town of the waterfall of the oak”), also known as Ballisodare, is a town in County Sligo, in the north of the Republic of Ireland.
Today we propose the opening movement of a Sonata for flute and basso continuo in D major, penned by Italian Baroque composer Giovanni Platti around 1743.
Thanks to Doug for suggesting this piece!
This minuet, along with its Trio in E major, constitutes the fourth and last movement of the second Sonata for three flutes by Johann Scherer.
Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!
This is the second study from German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer's 32 Etudes amusantes et instructives, Op. 129, first published in 1858.
One of the earliest appearances of this tune is in P.M. Haverty's One Hundred Irish Airs, published in New York in 1858, under the title “Leather the Wig” (meaning to thresh, or thin out, a wig). The hairpiece, however, symbolizes the (now defunct) British party of the Whigs, as is made apparent in the more recent, playful title “A Whack at the Whigs”, first found in O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland (Chicago, 1907).
A tambourin (literally “small drum” in French) is a piece of music that imitates a drum. French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote many of them as parts of his operas. The most famous one is the Tambourin in E Minor from his second collection of pieces for the harpsichord, titled Pièces de clavessin (1724), which also appears in his 1739 opera Les fêtes d'Hébé. With its driving melody full of trills and accents, this piece is unforgettable. In order to make it playable in its entirety on the flute, the tune was transposed to G minor.
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!
This is the very first study from Italian composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's Etudes mignonnes (Dainty Studies), Op. 131.
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.
“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.
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!
This is the third study from German flutist and composer Caspar Kummer's 32 Etudes amusantes et instructives, Op. 129, first published in 1858.
“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.
John Philip Sousa composed this lively march in 1893 to commemorate the Manhattan Beach Park resort. It is notable for its unique style, using soft clarinet arpeggios to musically mimic the gentle, rolling waves of the ocean lapping against the shore.
Thanks to Iriss for suggesting this piece!
This is the sixth duet from the first volume of La scuola del flauto (The School of the Flute) by Italian composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
Thanks to Paolo for contributing this piece!