Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Humors of Clare

The earliest version of this tune can be found in Bartholomew Cooke's Collection of Favourite Country Dances for 1797 (Dublin, 1797), under the title “Jackson's Rowling Pin”. It had evolved into “Humors of Clare” by the time it was included in Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music of Ireland (Chicago, 1907). Patrick Weston Joyce printed a four-part version of the same tune in his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (London and Dublin, 1909) as “The Cat's Bagpipes”.

Tune of the Day: American Patrol

This popular march was originally written by Frank W. Meacham in 1885 for piano. It was then arranged for wind band and published by Carl Fischer in 1891. While the original piano piece was in D major, the band version was in E-flat.

The march incorporates melodies from other patriotic American songs of the era, such as “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” and “Dixie”. The “patrol” format was popular in the second half of the 19th century, and a number of compositions are so entitled "Turkish Patrol", "Ethiopian Patrol", "Welsh Patrol", "Arab Patrol", and many more. The format was intended to represent a military band approaching, passing, and fading into the distance. It usually involved an introduction played pianissimo, imitating bugle calls or drums, then a theme played a little bit louder, then another very loud theme, then a return to the first theme gradually dying away and finishing pp, ppp, or even pppp.

The march was used for patriotic purposes during World War I and then again in World War II, when it was revived as a jitterbug march by the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Tune of the Day: In diesen heil'gen Hallen

This bass aria is taken from Act II of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. After Pamina pleads with Sarastro to have mercy on her scheming mother (the Queen of the Night, who has just sung the famous aria “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”, or “Hell's vengeance boileth in mine heart”), Sarastro forgives her and sings of the ideals of his Brotherhood:

Within these hallowed halls
One knows not revenge.
And should a person have fallen,
Love will guide him to duty.
Then wanders he on the hand of a friend
Cheerful and happy into a better land.

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Gariboldi

Here is another very simple étude from Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.

Tune of the Day: The Queen of the Fair

This jig was first published in Francis O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland (Chicago, 1907). Its composition is credited to virtuoso Chicago fiddler John McFadden (c. 1847–1913, born in Carrowmore, County Mayo), a contemporary of O'Neill's.

The melody (“of uncommon excellence”, according to O'Neill) achieved some popularity in Ireland after the 1931 recording by the Ballinakill Céilí Band.

Tune of the Day: Siciliana

Sonata No. 11 in F major (HWV 369) is the second of two major-mode recorder sonatas from Handel's Opus 1 collection. It was composed about 1725.

The third movement is quite an unusual one for a sonata da chiesa (which means “church sonata”, although these compositions were not meant to be performed in religious ceremonies). Handel inserts in the sonata this Siciliana in D minor, with short motives that end on the third beat of the measure. This movement naturally leads into the final Allegro, or Giga, which is also in 12/8.

Tune of the Day: Allegro con espressione by Kuhlau

Friedrich Kuhlau, a German-Danish pianist and composer of the late Classic and Romantic eras, wrote several compositions for flute. The piece we propose today, a fast G-major Allegro in triple time, is the first movement of one of the many flute duets he composed.

Thanks to Kate and George for suggesting this work!

Tune of the Day: Study in D-sharp minor by Andersen

Here is another étude by Danish flutist Joachim Andersen. This melancholic Lento in D# minor is study No. 14 from his Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 33.

Tune of the Day: The Foot of the Mountain

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. In his later book Irish Folk Music, O'Neill states that the tune was previously “unpublished and new to us”.

Tune of the Day: With Pleasure

Written in 1912, “With Pleasure” was Sousa's first, and one of his few, compositions in the new Ragtime style. It was dedicated to the members of the “Huntingdon Valley Country Club” of Philadelphia, of which the composer was an active member.

Several years later he used the piece as one movement of a suite, which he called, “The American Girl”. Later, when Sousa would program this work, he would sometimes list it by its subtitle “Dance Hilarious”. This fun, pleasant venture into Ragtime has entertained audiences at band concerts for over 80 years.

Tune of the Day: Voi, che sapete

“Voi, che sapete che cosa è amor” (“You ladies who know what love is, is it what I'm suffering from?”) is one of the most popular arias from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. It is performed by Cherubino, Count Almaviva's young page, who is about to be sent off to the army because the Count finds him a nuisance. When Cherubino appears before the Countess and her maid Susanna in Act II to tell them his fate, this aria is sung at the request of Susanna for a love song.

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Gariboldi

Here is another very simple étude from Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives. Strive to play it perfectly, paying close attention to dynamics and to the quality of your tone.

Tune of the Day: The Maids of Ballinacarty

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. Fiddler John Carey, a native of Limerick, is given as the source for the tune. In his later book Irish Folk Music, O'Neill states that the tune was previously “unpublished and new to us”.

Ballinascarty, also known as Ballinascarthy, is a village in County Cork, in the south-west of Ireland.

Tune of the Day: Air à l'Italien

In the Ouverture-Suite in A minor, TWV 55:a2 Telemann is revealed once more as a master of the “mixed taste”: the suite contains a pair of French minuets, two passepieds from Brittany, a Polish polonaise, and this “Air in the Italian style”, thus enhancing Telemann's pan-European reputation for inventive use of the orchestra in a form to which he was particularly attached.

The fourth movement from the suite is titled “Air à l’Italien”, although a more correct French spelling would be “Air à l'Italienne”. (Also, this is sometimes referred to as the third movement, because the two “Les Plaisirs” preceding it may be considered as a single movement.) This “Air” is a baroque operatic aria in Italian da capo form, as found in Handel: a cantabile first part followed by a contrasting virtuoso middle section.

Tune of the Day: Soave by Telemann

Here is the second movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's sixth Canonic Sonata for two flutes. This Soave in 12/8 time starts off in B-flat major, but seems to end up in F major.

Tune of the Day: Study in D minor by Andersen

Here is another étude by Danish flutist Joachim Andersen. This jumpy Allegretto in D minor is study No. 24 from his Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 33.

Tune of the Day: Miss Downing's Fancy

This minor-mode jig appears to be unique to Chicaco Police captain Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection The Dance Music of Ireland, published in 1907.

Tune of the Day: Colonel Bogey March

This popular march was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F.J. Ricketts, a British military bandmaster. Since at that time service personnel were not encouraged to have professional lives outside the armed forces, Ricketts published “Colonel Bogey” and his other compositions under the pseudonym Kenneth Alford.

Who was Colonel Bogey? The story goes that this was a nickname by which a certain fiery colonel was known just before the 1914 War. One of the composer's recreations was playing golf, and it was on a Scottish course that he sometimes encountered the eccentric colonel. One of the latter's peculiarities was that instead of shouting “Fore” to warn of an impending drive, he preferred to whistle a descending minor third. This little musical tag stayed and germinated in the mind of the receptive Ricketts, and so the opening of this memorable march was born.

In 1957 the march was chosen as the theme tune for the splendid film The Bridge on the River Kwai, and it became so identified with this film that many people now incorrectly refer to the “Colonel Bogey March” as “The River Kwai March”. The problem is that this title actually refers to a completely different march, written for the film by composer Malcolm Arnold!

Tune of the Day: Pa, pa, pa

This famous duet is sung in the finale of Act II of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, when the birdcatcher Papageno uses his magic bells to summon Papagena. Papageno is so thrilled to find his beloved Papagena that at first they can only stutter blissed-out “Pa … pa … pa …” noises at each other!

Tune of the Day: Study in G major by Gariboldi

This easy Waltz-like étude is taken from Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.

Tune of the Day: Friend of My Heart

This minor-mode jig appears to be unique to Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music of Ireland, published in 1907.

Tune of the Day: Alma Llanera

“Alma Llanera” (usually translated as “Soul of the Plains”) was composed by Pedro Elías Gutiérrez as part of a zarzuela (a type of Spanish operetta) that premiered in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1914. It is a joropo, a musical genre found in the plains of Venezuela which vaguely resembles the waltz. Formerly, the Spanish word “joropo” meant a “party”, but now it has come to mean a type of music and dance that identifies Venezuelans.

The song is considered as Venezuela's second national anthem. It is a tradition in Venezuela to end any social reunion or party with the intonation of “Alma Llanera”. It is undoubtedly one of the best-known Latin American songs and has been interpreted by famous singers all over the world.

Tune of the Day: Duet in D major by Köhler

This is the first duet in Ernesto Köhler's Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies, Op. 93, a book that includes both solo studies and duets. The second voice is slightly more difficult than the first one, as it is intended to be played by the teacher.

Thanks to Bruno for contributing this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in D-flat major by Andersen

Here is another étude by Danish flutist Joachim Andersen. This molto staccato (“very staccato”) “Allegro ma non troppo” in D-flat major is study No. 15 from his Twenty-Four Etudes for Flute, Op. 33.

Tune of the Day: Down the River

The first appearance of this jig is found in Francis O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907.

The tune was played by influential Cape Breton fiddler Angus Chisholm, which popularized the jig with musicians on the island, albeit altered to the Mixolydian mode (i.e., with all F's natural).

Tune of the Day: Gavotte

The gavotte originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo. The distinctive rhythmic feature of the original gavotte is that phrases begin in the middle of the bar; that is, in 4/4 time, the phrases begin on the third quarter note of the bar, creating a half-measure upbeat.

The gavotte became popular in the court of Louis XIV where Jean-Baptiste Lully was the leading court composer. Consequently several other composers of the Baroque period incorporated the dance as one of many optional additions to the standard instrumental suite of the era. The examples in suites and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach are best known.

Tune of the Day: Ricevete, o padroncina

This graceful piece is sung by a two-part chorus of country girls in Act III of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous opera Le nozze di Figaro. The peasant girls present flowers to the Countess, “to demonstrate our love for you”, and among them is Cherubino, the Count's page, disguised.

Tune of the Day: Study in F major by Gariboldi

Here is another very simple étude from Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives. If you can't play the low C's, you can just play them an octave higher.

Tune of the Day: Come Along With Me

This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. The tune is also known under a few other names, including “Fahy's Jig” and “The Green Forest Jig”.

Tune of the Day: Morceau de Concours

Gabriel Fauré was appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1896, and it was natural that the great flutist Paul Taffanel, who also taught there and was a great friend of his, should turn to him for a concours composition, which turned out to be the famous Fantaisie, Op. 79. For the same occasion Fauré also composed a brief sight-reading piece, properly titled “Morceau de lecture”, that would provide a good test of musicianship.

The latter, which according to some sources was composed on Bastille Day, July 14, 1898, is a mere arabesque dutifully spun out in the requisite scales, arpeggios and mordents, the apt execution of which demonstrates proficiency. This functional exercise plays out slowly over a spare piano accompaniment for about a minute and a half.

Tune of the Day: Moderato by Köhler

Here is a new flute duet from Volume I of Ernesto Köhler's Forty Progressive Duets. In this piece the main melody is given to the first flute, while the second flute plays more of an accompaniment role.