This is the seventh duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Today's piece is the eleventh study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the seventh piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
This country dance tune's first appearance is in William Dixon's music manuscript collection of 1733. Alnwick (pronounced “Annick”) is the traditional county town of Northumberland, England.
Thanks to Phil for suggesting this tune!
This is the third movement of the eighth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
This duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. It is based on a French air which had been collected by Irish poet and songwriter Thomas Moore in his National Airs, first published in 1818.
This study in A-flat minor (that's right, all notes flat!) is the very last piece from 30 Etüden in allen Tonarten für Flöte (“30 Studies in All Keys for Flute”), Op. 6, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Leipzig in 1894.
This air appears in the 1842 music manuscript collection of Dublin dentist and music collector Henry Hudson (1798–1889), with the note that he had it from “Bayly's Melodies of Various Nations, 2nd vol.”
This Adagio is the third movement of the eleventh of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
This is the eighth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Today's piece is the twelfth study from 30 Studi, Op. 32, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the eighth piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
“Bella ciao” (“Goodbye beautiful”) is an Italian protest folk song that originated in the hardships of the mondine, the paddy field workers in the late 19th century who sang it to protest against harsh working conditions in the paddy fields of North Italy. The song was modified and adopted as an anthem of the anti-fascist resistance by the Italian partisans between 1943 and 1945 during the Italian Resistance, the resistance of Italian partisans against the Nazi German forces occupying Italy, during the Italian Civil War, and the Italian partisan struggle against the fascist Italian Social Republic and its Nazi German allies. Versions of “Bella ciao” are still sung worldwide as an anti-fascist hymn of freedom and resistance.
One of the most famous recordings is that by the Italian folk singer Giovanna Daffini, who recorded both the mondina and the partisan versions. Many artists have recorded the song, including Herbert Pagani, Mary Hopkin, Sandie Shaw, and Manu Chao.
In 2012, the melody was adopted with adapted lyrics as a worldwide environmental activist song titled “Do it now”, demanding political action against global warming.
In 2017, the song received renewed popularity due to the singing of “Bella ciao” multiple times in the Spanish television series Money Heist. As a result of the popularity of the series, there was a flood of music releases in 2018.
In March 2020, the song once again gained international attention after Europeans and Italians in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy and Europe sang “Bella ciao” from the balconies of their housing complexes.
Thanks to Steve for suggesting this tune!
This is the fourth and final movement of the eighth sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
This song, first published around 1832, was composed by a James G. Drake (ca. 1815–1850), about whom little is known.
When sorrow clouds thy dream of mirth,
And promised joys fade too soon,
When flowers lie scentless on the earth,
Nor hope is left to gild the gloom;
Then while sad thy heart may be
Pensez à moi, ma chère amie!
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. Therein, it is erroneously presented as “French”, probably because of the title, which is French for “Think of me”.
This is the very first piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
This air is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. O'Neill remarks:
Not the least charming of the many airs and dance tunes, for which we are indebted to our liberal San Francisco contributor, Francis E. Walsh, is the fine Slumber Song above printed. It is an old strain of which variants under divers names gained wide circulation. Who hasn't heard the one time popular ballad about “my Love Nell from the Cove of Cork” and her inconstancy. “Mary of Blackwater Side”, one of the numbers in Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, Dublin 1909, betrays a similar origin.
This rich Vivace is the fourth and final movement of the eleventh of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
This is the ninth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.
Today's piece is the thirty-second study from 40 Nuovi Studi, Op. 75, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the ninth piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
This tune, which can be played either as a lament or as a march tune, is named after the last great defeat of the native Gaelic army in Ireland in 1691, which came after the defeat of the Stuart forces at the Battle of the Boyne. Aughrim is a small village located near Ballinasloe, County Galway, about 30 miles from Galway city.
The tune itself was probably composed in the second half of the 18th century. It recently made an appearance in the 2013 film The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp.
This is the opening movement of the first sonata from Sonate a flauto solo con cembalo, o violoncello (“Sonatas for solo flute with harpsichord or cello”) by Italian Baroque composer Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani, originally published in Venice in 1720.
This duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. It is based on a musical setting by Irish composer Sir John Stevenson of a poem from Thomas Moore's National Airs.
This is the second piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
“Cwm Rhondda” (“Rhonda Valley”) is a popular hymn tune written in 1907 by Welsh organist and composer John Hughes. It is usually used in English as a setting for William Williams's text “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” (or, in some traditions, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”). The tune and hymn are often called “Bread of Heaven” because of a line in this English translation.
The hymn has been sung on various British state occasions, such as the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the weddings of Prince William and Catherine Middleton and of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Apart from church use, probably its best known use is as the 'Welsh Rugby Hymn', often sung by the crowd at rugby matches. English and Scottish football fans have also often sung a song based on this tune using the words “We'll support you evermore”, which in turn led to many different versions being adapted. The variation “You're Not Singing Any More” when taunting the fans of opposing teams who are losing remains extremely popular.
Thanks to Heather for suggesting this tune!
This Largo is the opening movement of the last of 12 sonatas for flute and continuo by Italian composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli, originally published in Amsterdam in 1732.
This is the tenth duet from Trente-six Petits Duos Mélodiques Faciles et Chantants pour deux Flûtes (36 Easy Flute Duets) by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier. It is written in the style of a villanella, a form of Italian part-song that originated in Naples in the 16th century.
This study in triplets is the seventh piece from 30 Studi, Op. 32, by Italian flutist, composer and arranger Luigi Hugues.
This study has also been published as the tenth piece in a selection of 24 Studies for Flute from Hugues's Opp. 32 and 75.
The Battle of Aughrim, fought on July 12th 1691 near Ballinasloe, County Galway, pitted the Irish forces against the English. The Irish Commander, General St. Ruth, and some 7000 of his troops were killed, the “flower of their army and nation”. It was a devastating defeat, and the cause of much sorrow in Ireland. In Minstrelsy of Ireland (1897), Alfred Moffat says the air “probably dates from the terrible battle”.
Thomas Moore used the melody for his song “Forget not the Field” in Volume VII of his Irish Melodies (1818).
Today we present a transcription for solo flute of the themes from “The Kalandar Prince”, the second movement of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 symphonic suite Scheherazade.
The first part of the Andantino, played by a bassoon in the original, provides some excellent low-register practice. If your flute doesn't have a B foot, you can simply skip straight to the oboe reprise at measure 26, which is largely the same but one octave higher.
Thanks to Janset for suggesting this piece!
This flute duet is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833. After the title, a mysterious “Mrs. G.” is referenced, possibly a singer with whom the tune was associated at the time. Several compositions were published in the early 19th-century under the title “Favorite Gallopade”, but unfortunately we were unable to track the origins of this particular piece. If you recognize the tune, please let us know!
This is the third piece from 24 Etüden zur Förderung der Technik (24 Studies for the Development of Technique), Op. 12, by German flutist Emil Prill. It was first published in Bremen in 1913.
This air appears in Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. The cited source is a Miss Lucy Ray.