Today we propose an étude by Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier, taken from his book 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière. Berbiguier was a French flutist and composer of the Romantic Era. He was very prolific as a composer, having written 11 concertos for flute and orchestra and many flute duets, as well as two methods for the instrument.
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. Musician Paul de Grae writes that it is likely O'Neill obtained the jig from artist George Petrie's (1790–1866) manuscript collection, where it can be found as an untitled jig obtained from another collector, Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914), who in turn had it “from D. Cleary, Kilfinane” (a small town in County Limerick). The settings are close but not identical, perhaps the result of a reworking by Francis O'Neill's transcriber and collaborator, James O'Neill.
“The Sorcerer's Apprentice” (original French title “L'apprenti sorcier”) is a symphonic poem composed by Paul Dukas in 1897. It was inspired by Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name (“Der Zauberlehrling” in German).
Although Dukas's musical piece, first published in 1897, was already quite well known and popular, it was made particularly famous by its inclusion in the 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia, in which Mickey Mouse plays the role of the apprentice. The popularity of the musical piece in Fantasia caused it to be used again in Fantasia 2000.
Perhaps the best-known Mickey Mouse short after Steamboat Willy, The Sorcerer's Apprentice tells the story of Goethe's famous poem, which is a story of wizard's meek assistant who attempts to work some of the magical feats of his master, before he knows how to properly control them. Interestingly, the sorcerer's anger with his apprentice, which appears in Fantasia, does not appear in the Goethe source poem
This Adagio is the second movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's first Canonic Sonata. In this instance, the word canonic means “in the manner of a canon”; that is, the two players play the exact same melody, but one measure apart.
Remember that, since this is a Baroque piece, trills should be played beginning on the note above the one indicated. In this case, it is also nice to end the trills by playing the note below the one indicated, followed by the note itself; for instance, to trill a D, you could play E-D-E-D-E-D-C-D. Just be careful to add the appropriate accidentals!
Here is a new simple étude, this time in B-flat major, from the first book of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler.
The earliest known appearance of this jig is in Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. A nearly identical version, presented as an untitled jig collected from a “Mrs. Close”, can be found in George Petrie's The Complete Collection of Irish Music (London, 1905).
The tune is related to “Helvic Head” from O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, 1806.
Today we propose a transcription for flute and piano of “Morning Prayer”, the very first composition in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young, Op. 39.
Today we present the central movement of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, a slow 3/4-time Andante in E minor. The original work features a violin and two recorders playing against a string ripieno, but here we have adapted the score so that the piece could be played by three flutes.
This is the third étude from 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier. Try to keep a steady tempo throughout the piece, and don't let the quintuplets scare you!
This jig appears to be unique to Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's collections Music of Ireland (1903) and The Dance Music of Ireland (1907).
Coomanore is the name of an actual place in Ireland. It is now split between the townlands of Coomanore North and Coomanore South, both located in County Cork.
Did you know that King Frederick II of Prussia was a gifted musician who played the transverse flute? He composed 100 sonatas for the flute as well as four symphonies. His court musicians included C.P.E. Bach, Johann Joachim Quantz, and Franz Benda. It was a meeting with Johann Sebastian Bach in 1747 in Potsdam that led to Bach writing The Musical Offering.
And it was the “Old Fritz”, as the king was nicknamed, who wrote the “Hohenfriedberger”, one of the best known German military marches. It is named for the victory of the Prussians over the allied Austrians and Saxons in 1745 during the Second Silesian War in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg, near Striegau.
You may remember this march being used at the beginning of the film Stalingrad, or in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon depicting the Prussian army during the Seven Years War.
The “Dance of the Hours” is a ballet from the opera La Gioconda by Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli. First performed in 1876, La Gioconda was a major success for Ponchielli, as well as the most successful new Italian opera between Verdi's Aida (1871) and Otello (1887).
The “Dance of the Hours” is considered one of the most popular ballet pieces in history. The ballet was parodied in Walt Disney's 1940 classic Fantasia. The segment consists of the whole ballet, but performed comically by animals rather than humans. The dancers of the morning are represented by Madame Upanova and her ostriches. The dancers of the daytime are represented by Hyacinth Hippo and her servants. The dancers of the evening are represented by Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe. The dancers of the night are represented by Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators.
Another famous parody of the “Dance of the Hours” is Allan Sherman's 1963 song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh”, describing a miserable time at summer camp. It uses the main theme of the ballet as its melody.
This étude in B minor is taken from the first book of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler. It mainly focuses on articulation, and at the beginning you will find the indication molto staccato, demanding for a very sharp staccato.
The earliest known appearance of this jig is in Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill's source for this tune was his colleague, Police Sergeant James Kerwin.
No words of mine could do justice to Sergeant Kerwin—the genial, hospitable “Jim” Kerwin, not as a fluter and a lover of the music of his ancestors, but as a host at his magnificent private residence on Wabash Avenue. On his invitation and that of his equally hospitable and charming wife, a select company, attracted and united by a common hobby, met monthly on Sunday afternoons at his house for years.
This is probably the best known of Mendelssohn's 100 or so songs. Mendelssohn wrote the piece a couple of months after moving to Leipzig to become director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Singakademie. He had just spent a frustrating two years in Düsseldorf trying to conduct somewhat amateur musicians and performing for unappreciative audiences. He found that everything in cosmopolitan, cultured Leipzig was to his liking; his contentment is reflected in this song.
With this song Mendelssohn set to music a German romantic poem by Heinrich Heine. The text tells of melody's power to transport lovers to the most beautiful night garden, with bright and fragrant flowers, gazelles, a murmuring stream, and a palm tree, under which they can dream.
Here is the third and last movement of Georg Philipp Telemann's Canonic Sonata No. 1. It's a lively 2/4-time Allegro in G major, and like all the movements in the “Canonic” collection it is written as a canon, so both players can play the same part, just one measure apart.
Here is the second étude from 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.