Tuesday 1 April 2014

Tune of the Day: La Candeur

 by Friedrich Burgmüller, transcribed for solo flute

This short piece, originally written as a study for solo piano by German pianist and composer Friedrich Burgmüller, is taken from his 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100.

Categories: Etudes Romantic Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 2 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Badinerie by J.S. Bach

 from Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, transcribed for flute quartet

In the 20th century this last movement from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 has become one of the most famous show-pieces for solo flutists, due to its quick pace and difficulty.

We already had a solo version of this piece, but due to popular demand we have decided to also prepare this arrangement for 4 flutes plus (optional) bass.

Categories: Baroque Double tonguing Show-off pieces Difficulty: advanced
Thursday 3 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in C major

 by Nilson Mascolo and Cinthia Mascolo

The study in C major we present today was kindly contributed by flutists Nilson and Cinthia Mascolo from Brazil. It is the ninth piece from their 17 Estudos para Flauta Transversal, N. 1.

Categories: Contemporary Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 4 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Ap Shenkin

 Traditional English tune

This traditional tune, also known as “The Tempest”, is taken from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1808, published in London by Goulding & Co.

Categories: Dance tunes Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Saturday 5 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Cantabile by Quantz

 from Sonata No. 2 in B-flat major

This is the opening movement of Johann Joachim Quantz's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat major for flute and continuo. It is one of the many works for flute that Quantz composed for his student and patron Frederick II, King of Prussia.

Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 6 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Les Angoisses

 Flute duet by J.B. de Boismortier

This brunette is the second duet in G minor from the 55 Easy Pieces collection by French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Categories: Baroque Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Monday 7 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Gariboldi

 from “Etudes mignonnes”

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

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 8 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Cradle Song

 Slow air by James Scott Skinner

It is told that Scots composer James Scott Skinner wrote this slow air after seeing a sick child being cared for by his mother. While in a hotel, he went into the wrong room by mistake and saw the mother bending over the cradle.

Thanks to Ronald for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Lullabies Slow airs Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 9 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Grave Adagio by Albinoni

 from “Trattenimenti armonici”

The “Grave Adagio” in A major we present today is the opening movement of the eleventh Sonata from the Trattenimenti armonici collection by Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 10 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Allemande by Boismortier

 from “Petites sonates à deux flûtes traversières”

This is the second movement of the third sonata from a collection of 12 “little sonatas” for two flutes by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Categories: Allemandes Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 11 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in F major by Kummer

 from “32 Etudes amusantes et instructives”

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

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 12 April 2014

Tune of the Day: This Old Man

 Traditional English nursery rhyme

The origins of this English-language children's song are obscure. The earliest extant record is a version noted in Anne Gilchrist's Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1937), learnt from her Welsh nurse in the 1870s under the title “Jack Jintle”. A similar version was included in Cecil Sharp and Sabine Baring-Gould's English Folk-Songs for Schools, published in 1906. It was collected several times in England in the early twentieth century with a variety of lyrics.

Detective Columbo whistles this tune in almost every episode of the famous TV series. It also appears as a motif in the musical score.

Thanks to Steve for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Nursery rhymes Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Sunday 13 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Gayment by Naudot

 from Flute Sonata in G major

This is the third movement of a flute sonata in G major by Jean-Christophe Naudot, a French composer and flutist of the early 18th century.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 14 April 2014

Tune of the Day: La Pointilleuse

 Flute duet by J.B. de Boismortier

This gavotte is the third duet in G minor from the 55 Easy Pieces collection by Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. The French title “La Pointilleuse” could be translated as “The Meticulous One”.

Categories: Baroque Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 15 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in C major

 by Nilson Mascolo and Cinthia Mascolo

The study we present today was kindly contributed by flutists Nilson and Cinthia Mascolo from Brazil. It is the fourteenth piece from their 17 Estudos para Flauta Transversal, N. 1.

Categories: Contemporary Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 16 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Haymarket Hornpipe

 Traditional Scottish tune

This traditional hornpipe is taken from Thomas Craig's Empire Violin Collection of Hornpipes, published in Edinburgh ca. 1890.

Categories: Hornpipes Traditional/Folk Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 17 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Alla breve by Quantz

 from Sonata No. 2 in B-flat major

This lively “Alla breve” is the central movement of Johann Joachim Quantz's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat major for flute and continuo. It is one of the many works for flute that Quantz composed for his student and patron Frederick II, King of Prussia.

Thanks to Joyce Kai for contributing this piece!

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 18 April 2014

Tune of the Day: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

 by Johann Sebastian Bach, transcribed for flute trio

This melody was originally composed around 1600 by German organist Hans Leo Hassler for a secular love song, “Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret”. The most famous setting of the tune, however, is by Johann Sebastian Bach, who arranged it in his St. Matthew Passion. Bach also used the melody on different words in his Christmas Oratorio, both in the first choral and the triumphant final chorus.

As many will probably recognize, The melody of “American Tune” by Paul Simon is based on this tune.

Thanks to Diana for suggesting this piece!

Categories: Baroque Easter music Hymn tunes Oratorios Difficulty: easy
Saturday 19 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in A minor by Gariboldi

 from “Etudes mignonnes”

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

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 20 April 2014

Tune of the Day: The Cardinal

 Traditional English tune

This English dance tune is taken from the first volume of Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, published in London in 1757.

Categories: Dance tunes Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Monday 21 April 2014

Tune of the Day: My Melancholy Baby

 by Ernie Burnett, transcribed fro flute and piano

This popular song, published in 1912, was first sung publicly by William Frawley. Ernie Burnett, who composed the music, was wounded fighting in the First World War, and he lost his memory together with his identity dog-tags. While recuperating in hospital, a pianist entertained the patients with popular tunes including “Melancholy Baby”. Burnett rose from his sickbed and exclaimed: "That's my song!". He had regained his memory.

Thanks to Steve for suggesting this piece!

Categories: Love songs Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 22 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Lentement by Boismortier

 from “Petites sonates à deux flûtes traversières”

This is the third movement of the third sonata from a collection of 12 “little sonatas” for two flutes by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 23 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in E-flat major by Kummer

 from “32 Etudes amusantes et instructives”

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

Categories: Classical Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 24 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Scott Skinner's Compliments to Dr. MacDonald

 Traditional Scottish march

This march tune was composed by Scots fiddler James Scott Skinner in honor of Dr. Keith Norman McDonald of Skye, who was not only a physician but also an excellent musician and violinist.

Thanks to Ronald for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Marches Traditional/Folk Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 25 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Allegro by Albinoni

 from “Trattenimenti armonici”

The Allegro in A major we present today is the second movement of the eleventh Sonata from the Trattenimenti armonici collection by Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 26 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Le Dédaigneux

 Flute duet by J.B. de Boismortier

This rondeau, whose title is French for “The Disdainful One”, is the fourth duet in G minor from the 55 Easy Pieces collection by French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Categories: Baroque Rondos Difficulty: easy
Sunday 27 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Study in C major

 by Nilson Mascolo and Cinthia Mascolo

The study in C major we present today was kindly contributed by flutists Nilson and Cinthia Mascolo from Brazil. It is the fifteenth piece from their 17 Estudos para Flauta Transversal, N. 1.

Categories: Contemporary Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: easy
Monday 28 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Bedfordshire March

 Traditional English tune

This is a tune from the time of the American Revolutionary War, from the British side. The Bedfordshire March was first published in London in 1770 in Compleat Instructions for the Fife by Longman, Lukey & Co.

Categories: Marches Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 29 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Ànemos

 Contemporary étude for solo flute

Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Italian flutist Corrado Cristaldi. It is a short “air” for solo flute entitled “ànemos”, a word from Ancient Greek meaning ‛soul’, ‛breath’, ‛wind’. The music was written as a tribute to the victims of the tragic earthquake/tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.

Categories: Contemporary Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: advanced
Wednesday 30 April 2014

Tune of the Day: Gavotte en Rondeau by Boismortier

 from “Petites sonates à deux flûtes traversières”

This is the fourth and last movement of the third sonata from a collection of 12 “little sonatas” for two flutes by the prolific French Baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate