Sunday 1 October 2017

Tune of the Day: The Newsman

 Traditional Scottish jig

This G-major jig, probably of Scottish origin, is taken from Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905. The tune is very similar to one that had appeared over a century earlier in James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1782) under the title “The Widow's Rant”.

Categories: Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Monday 2 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Rondo by Mozart

 from Divertimento No. 1, transcribed for flute and piano

This lively rondo is the fifth and final movement of the first of 5 Divertimentos for three basset horns that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed between 1783 and 1785.

Categories: Classical Rondos Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 3 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Chaconne by Schultze

 for two flutes

This chaconne is attributed to a German composer named Johann Christoph Schultze, about whom very little is known. It was originally published in Hamburg in 1729 together with six sonatas for two flutes, under the Italian-ish title Six Sonate â Doi Flauti Traversi Senza Basso Con una Ciacconna tra mischiata di doi Canoni nella medesima nascosti.

This chaconne is set up as a canon. The second flute should start playing (from the beginning) when the first flute arrives at the segno on the second beat of measure 4. At the end of the piece, the first flute takes the da capo (goes back to the beginning) and stops at the fermata on the first beat of measure 4, while the second flute simply stops when it reaches the last measure.

Categories: Baroque Canons Chaconnes Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 4 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Caprice in B-flat minor by Andersen

 from “26 Little Caprices”

This study in trills is the twenty-fourth piece from a collection of 26 Little Caprices for flute (XXVI kleine Capricen für die Flöte) by Danish flutist and composer Joachim Andersen, published in 1890.

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: advanced
Thursday 5 October 2017

Tune of the Day: The Lasses of Solohod

 Traditional Irish slip jig

This Irish 9/8-time jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922. O'Neill remarks that this tune is a variant of “The Rakes of Solohod”, which had previously been published in his Dance Music of Ireland (1907).

Solohod (also spelled Sollohod or Solohead) is a townland in County Tipperary, located near Limerick Junction, about 40 km from Limerick city.

Categories: Celtic Music Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Friday 6 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Two Minuetti by Chédeville

 from “Il pastor fido” Sonata No. 5

These two minuets constitute the sixth and final movement of the fifth of the Il pastor fido sonatas, first published in 1737 and traditionally attributed to Antonio Vivaldi. The actual composer, Nicolas Chédeville, made a secret agreement with Jean-Noël Marchand to publish a collection of his own compositions as Vivaldi's Op. 13. Chédeville supplied the money and received the profits, all of which was recorded in a notarial act. This may have been an attempt to give his instrument, the musette, the endorsement of a great composer which it lacked.

Categories: Baroque Minuets Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 7 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Corrente by Corelli

 from Trio Sonata in D major, transcribed for two flutes

This corrente is the third movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 1 in D major, published in 1685. Corelli was a violinist, and this sonata was originally scored for two violins and continuo; however, it can be played without issues by two flutes.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Categories: Baroque Courantes Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 8 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Study in D major by Dôthel

 from “Studi per il flauto”

This jumpy study in D major is the fifth piece from Studi per il flauto in tutti j tuoni e modi (“Flute studies in all keys and modes”) by French-Italian flutist and composer Niccolò Dôthel (a.k.a. Nicolas D'Hotel).

Categories: Classical Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 9 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Oh! 'Tis Love!

 Traditional English country dance

This song appears in several collections of the mid-1820s and 1830s, such as G.E. Blake's Gentlemen's Amusement (1824). It appears to be an English adaptation of a French song titled “C'est l'amour”. It can be played either as a slow air or, as suggested in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, as a country dance.

Categories: Dance tunes Slow airs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Tuesday 10 October 2017

Tune of the Day: La Musette by Marais

 from “Five Old French Dances”

This piece was composed by the famous French viol player Marin Marais. The viol (also called viola da gamba, an Italian expression indicating that the instrument is meant to rest vertically on one's leg) is an old instrument that was primarily used during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It is similar to a cello, but it has six strings and it is fretted like a guitar.

Categories: Baroque Musettes Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 11 October 2017

Tune of the Day: With Such Beauty And Such Skill

 from “Cinderella”, arranged for three flutes

This flute trio appears in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833. It is an arrangement of a piece from Cinderella, the 1831 English-language adaptation of Rossini's La Cenerentola by Irish violinist and composer Michael Rophino Lacy.

Categories: Opera excerpts Romantic Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 12 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Study in D minor by Dôthel

 from “Studi per il flauto”

This short study in D minor is the sixth piece from Studi per il flauto in tutti j tuoni e modi (“Flute studies in all keys and modes”) by French-Italian flutist and composer Niccolò Dôthel (a.k.a. Nicolas D'Hotel).

Categories: Classical Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 13 October 2017

Tune of the Day: The Roving Blade

 Traditional Irish slip jig

This simple 9/8-time jig is taken from Chicago police officer Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922. O'Neill's source for this tune was the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind fiddler from North Kerry, Ireland.

This tune is apparently unrelated to the more famous folk song “The Newry Highwayman”, which is also known as “The Roving Blade”.

Categories: Celtic Music Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Saturday 14 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Ah, leave me not to pine

 from “The Pirates of Penzance”, arranged for Flute and Piano

This sweet duet is sung by Mabel and Frederic during Act II of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. Our hero Frederic, having completed his 21st year, is about to be released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley (“the very model of a modern Major-General”), and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that technically, since he was born on the 29th of February, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his twenty-first birthday, meaning that he must serve for another 63 years!

Ah, leave me not to pine
Alone and desolate;
No fate seemed fair as mine,
No happiness so great!
And Nature, day by day,
Has sung in accents clear
This joyous roundelay,
“He loves thee – he is here.
Fal, la, la, la, Fal, la, la, la.
He loves thee – he is here.
Fal, la, la, Fal, la!”

Thanks to Phil for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Opera excerpts Difficulty: easy
Sunday 15 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Gavotta by Corelli

 from Trio Sonata in D major, transcribed for two flutes

This gavotte is the fourth and final movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 1 in D major, published in 1685. Corelli was a violinist, and this sonata was originally scored for two violins and continuo; however, it can be played without issues by two flutes.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Categories: Baroque Gavottes Sonatas Difficulty: easy
Monday 16 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Study in C major by Köhler

 from “22 Studies in Expression and Facility”

This piece is the opening study from 22 Studies in Expression and Facility, Op. 89 by Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler. This collection was originally published in 1904 with the German title 22 Vortrags- und Geläufigkeits Etuden für Flöte.

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 17 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Ballyshannon

 Traditional Irish jig

The only known appearance of this jig in print is in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.

Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It claims to be the oldest town in Ireland, and its archaeological sites dating as far back as the Neolithic period (4000 BC – 2500 BC).

Categories: Celtic Music Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Wednesday 18 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Affettuoso by Telemann

 from Partita No. 6, arranged for flute and keyboard

This is the opening movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 6 in E-flat major, TWV 41:Es1, originally published in 1716 as part of the Kleine Kammermusik (“little chamber music”) collection. The original edition indicates that the melody is intended to be played by an oboe, a violin, or a flute.

Categories: Baroque Difficulty: intermediate
Thursday 19 October 2017

Tune of the Day: All's Well

 by John Braham, arranged for two flutes

This duet was composed by English tenor opera singer John Braham. In 1803, he sang in The English Fleet, the entire music of which was his own composition. It was in this opera that the duet “All's Well” was introduced; it would become one of his best-known works.

The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.

Categories: Opera excerpts Romantic Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 20 October 2017

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

 from “Studi per il flauto”

This short air in D-flat major is the sixth piece from Studi per il flauto in tutti j tuoni e modi (“Flute studies in all keys and modes”) by the 18th-century French-Italian flutist and composer Niccolò Dôthel (a.k.a. Nicolas D'Hotel).

Categories: Classical Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Saturday 21 October 2017

Tune of the Day: A Fig For A Kiss

 Traditional Scottish slip jig

the earliest appearance of this slip jig in print is in Robert Bremner's 1757 Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances, with the title “A Feg for a Kiss”.

This tune should not be confused with the similar and more famous “The Splashing of the Churn”, which is also known as “A Fig for a Kiss”.

Categories: Celtic Music Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Sunday 22 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Vivace by Chédeville

 from “Il pastor fido” Sonata No. 6

This is the opening movement of the sixth of the Il pastor fido sonatas, first published in 1737 and traditionally attributed to Antonio Vivaldi. The actual composer, Nicolas Chédeville, made a secret agreement with Jean-Noël Marchand to publish a collection of his own compositions as Vivaldi's Op. 13. Chédeville supplied the money and received the profits, all of which was recorded in a notarial act. This may have been an attempt to give his instrument, the musette, the endorsement of a great composer which it lacked.

Categories: Baroque Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Monday 23 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Allemanda by Corelli

 from Trio Sonata in D minor, transcribed for two flutes

This allemande is the opening movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 2 in D minor, published in 1685. Corelli was a violinist, and this sonata was originally scored for two violins and continuo; however, it can be played without issues by two flutes.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Categories: Allemandes Baroque Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 24 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Study in A minor by Köhler

 from “22 Studies in Expression and Facility”

This is the second piece from 22 Studies in Expression and Facility, Op. 89 by Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler. This collection was originally published in 1904 with the German title 22 Vortrags- und Geläufigkeits Etuden für Flöte.

Categories: Etudes Romantic Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Wednesday 25 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Strawberry Fair

 Traditional English folk song

According to folk song collector Sabine Baring-Gould, the lyrics to this traditional English song date back to circa 1650. The earliest known appearance of the melody occurs around 1835, but it is probably older.

As I was going to Strawberry Fair,
Singing, singing, buttercups and daisies,
I met a maiden taking her wares, fol-de-dee.
Her eyes were blue and golden her hair,
As she went on to Strawberry Fair.
Ri-fol, Ri-fol, Tol-de-riddle-li-do,
Ri-fol, Ri-fol, Tol-de-riddle-dee.

Thanks to Kevin for suggesting this tune!

Categories: Ballads Nursery rhymes Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Thursday 26 October 2017

Tune of the Day: La Matelotte by Marin Marais

 from “Five Old French Dances”

This piece was composed by the famous French viol player Marin Marais. The viol (also called viola da gamba, an Italian expression indicating that the instrument is meant to rest vertically on one's leg) is an old instrument that was primarily used during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It is similar to a cello, but it has six strings and it is fretted like a guitar.

The matelotte (from the French matelot, ‛sailor’) is a Dutch sailors' dance similar to a hornpipe, performed in wooden shoes, the dancers' arms being interlaced behind their backs.

Categories: Baroque Difficulty: intermediate
Friday 27 October 2017

Tune of the Day: The King and the Countryman

 traditional song, arranged for two flutes

This short duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. The song appears to have originated from a poem called “The King and Northern Man, Shewing How a Poor Northumberland Man (Tenant to the King) Being Wronged by a Lawyer (His Neighbour) Went to the King Himself to Make Known His Grievance”. The earliest known appearance of this poem is in edition published in 1640, but there is little doubt that the story is much older.

Categories: Ballads Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Saturday 28 October 2017

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

 from “Studi per il flauto”

This short study in D-sharp minor is the eight piece from Studi per il flauto in tutti j tuoni e modi (“Flute studies in all keys and modes”) by French-Italian flutist and composer Niccolò Dôthel (a.k.a. Nicolas D'Hotel).

Categories: Classical Etudes Written for Flute Difficulty: intermediate
Sunday 29 October 2017

Tune of the Day: The Milkmaid

 Traditional Irish jig

The only known appearance of this jig in print is in Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, published in New York in 1905.

Categories: Celtic Music Jigs Traditional/Folk Difficulty: easy
Monday 30 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Presto by Telemann

 from Partita No. 6, arranged for flute and keyboard

Today we propose the second movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's Partita No. 6 in E-flat major, TWV 41:Es1, originally published in 1716 as part of the Kleine Kammermusik (“little chamber music”) collection. The original edition indicates that the melody is intended to be played by an oboe, a violin, or a flute.

Categories: Baroque Difficulty: intermediate
Tuesday 31 October 2017

Tune of the Day: Corrente by Corelli

 from Trio Sonata in D minor, transcribed for two flutes

This corrente is the second movement of Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Trio Sonata No. 2 in D minor, published in 1685. Corelli was a violinist, and this sonata was originally scored for two violins and continuo; however, it can be played without issues by two flutes.

Thanks to Mario for contributing this piece!

Categories: Baroque Courantes Sonatas Difficulty: intermediate