Free Flute Sheet Music

Tune of the Day: Study in A major by Köhler

This 4/8-time étude in A major is taken from the first book of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Italian composer Ernesto Köhler.

Tune of the Day: Wallop the Spot

The earliest known appearance of this jig is in Francis O'Neill's Music or Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill's source for the tune was fiddle player John McFadden, originally from near Westport, County Mayo.

Tune of the Day: Plaisir d'amour

This song was originally written in 1780 by Jean Paul Égide Martini. Sometimes known as Martini Il Tedesco (Italian for “Martini the German”), Martini was born Johann Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf in Freystadt, Germany. He adopted the family name Martini after moving to France, where he established a successful career as a court musician. He is sometimes referred to as Giovanni Martini, which has resulted in a confusion with Giovanni Battista Martini, particularly with regard to the composition of “Plaisir d'Amour”.

This vocal romance became quite popular, and was later arranged for orchestra by Hector Berlioz. Notable interpretations of the song include those of Joan Baez, Brigitte Bardot, Karen Allyson, and Charlotte Church. Although it has recently been adapted as a piece of pop music, most people don't realize that it was written in a classical style during the classical period.

The melody was reused for the popular 1961 song “Can't Help Falling in Love”, performed by Elvis Presley in the film Blue Hawaii.

Tune of the Day: Third Mode Melody

Thomas Tallis was a prominent English church organist and composer, whose nine psalm chant pieces were included in Archbishop Matthew Parker's Psalter of 1567. The “Third Mode Melody” is perhaps Tallis's best-known composition today, due to its appearance as background music in the 2003 film Master and Commander, which featured Ralph Vaughan Williams's 1910 Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for string orchestra. For his work, Vaughan Williams took much inspiration from music of the English Renaissance; actually, many of his compositions are associated with or inspired by the music of this period.

Gregorian chants, named after Pope Gregory I, are among the earliest church music used in celebration of mass and other liturgical sacraments of the Church. Within medieval Gregorian chant, there are seven “modes” that correspond to scales; Tallis's tune is based on the third mode, the so-called “Phrygian” mode. Its scale is similar to that of a piece in E minor, with the difference that the second note is F-natural, and not F-sharp. Therefore, even if F-sharps are present, they are to be considered as accidental notes.

This arrangement can also be played as a duet by omitting the middle voice.

Tune of the Day: Study in B-flat major by Berbiguier

This is the fifth technical étude from 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier. To be played with metronomic regularity.

Tune of the Day: Take It Easy

This jig appears to be unique to Francis O'Neill's collections Music of Ireland and The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903 and 1907 respectively.

It is a derivative of the Scottish melody “Hey Jenny Come Down to Jock”, published in William McGibbon's Scots Tunes (Edinburgh, 1764).

Tune of the Day: Papageno's Aria

This famous aria is sung near the end of the second and last act of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). After Pamina and Tamino fell in love with each other, the funny bird catcher Papageno also desires to have a “little wife”, and sings of this with his magic bells. The original first line is “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen”, but here's a translation instead, taken directly from the 1984 film Amadeus:

A sweetheart or a pretty little wife
Is Papageno's wish.
A willing, billing, lovey dovey
Would be
My most tasty little dish.
Be my most tasty little dish!
Be my most tasty little dish!
Then that would be eating and drinking
I'd live like a Prince without thinking.
The wisdom of old would be mine —
A woman's much better than wine!

Tune of the Day: The Impresario Overture

The Impresario (actually, Der Schauspieldirektor) is a comic opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1786. It was commissioned to the famous Austrian composer by Emperor Joseph II, who wanted to pit a German singspiel against the Italian opera Prima la musica, poi le parole (First the Music, then the Words) by Antonio Salieri.

Cast in one short act, Mozart's opera has just four numbers. The overture, which we present today arranged for flute duet, is similar to the one from The Marriage of Figaro, which was written at the same time and premiered later the same year.

Thanks to Karen for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: Study in F-sharp minor by Köhler

Here is a new étude from the first book of Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies by Italian flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler.

Tune of the Day: The Man Who Died and Rose Again

This jig is taken from Chicago Police Captain Francis O'Neill's 1903 collection Music of Ireland. His source was the celebrated uilleann piper Patsy Touhey, and about him he later wrote, in Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910):

No one but an Irishman would thing of naming an air or a tune “The Man Who Died and Rose Again.” Where Patrick Touhey, the famous piper, obtained this rare unpublished jig, we are unable to say.

Tune of the Day: Aquarium

This is one of the musically richest movements from Le Carnaval des Animaux (“The Carnival of the Animals”), a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The melody is played by the flute, on top of tumultuous, glissando-like runs in the piano. These irregular piano figures are evocative of a peaceful, dimly-lit aquarium.

“Aquarium” has been featured in the trailers for the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, the 1994 film Only You, and the 2006 film Charlotte's Web. It also appears to be one of the influences on the main theme in Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and is especially prominent in the cue titled “The West Wing”.

As Trevor Wye points out in his popular Practice Books, this piece makes an excellent tone exercise.

Tune of the Day: Je me recommande humblement

Along with Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstaple, Gilles Binchois was one of the most famous composers of the early 15th century.

As Binchois avoided large-scale works, his three-part songs are his most important compositions. Typical features include rather short-breathed phrases, triple rhythm, and the apparent repetition of material. These repetitions actually demonstrate Binchois's flexibility, since it is rare for two phrases to have exactly the same rhythmic or melodic contour. The song “Je me recommande” is a fine example of his style, and illustrates many of the features that make Binchois a supreme miniaturist.

Tune of the Day: Study in G minor by Berbiguier

This study in triplets is taken from 18 exercices pour la flûte traversière by French Romantic composer Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier.

Tune of the Day: Strop the Razor

The earliest appearance of this jig is found in Howe’s 500 Irish Melodies Ancient and Modern, published in Boston around 1880, under the (probably corrupted) title “Stop the Razor”. It was then included, as two separate settings, in Francis O'Neill's Music or Ireland (Chicago, 1903). Our version is a concatenation of these two settings, with parts 3 to 6 (the second setting) serving as variations.

Tune of the Day: Largo

The Sei Solo – a violino senza Basso accompagnato (“six violin solos without bass”), as Bach titled them, have a great historical significance, as they firmly established the technical capability of the violin as a solo instrument. The set consists of three sonatas da chiesa, in four movements, and three partitas, in dance-form movements. It was completed by 1720, but was only published in 1802. Even after publication, it was largely ignored until the celebrated violinist Josef Joachim started performing these works. Today, Bach's Sonatas and Partitas are an essential part of the violin repertoire, frequently performed and recorded.

This splendid Largo in F major constitutes the third movement of Sonata No. 3 in C major. Considered by some as the most beautiful of all solo works ever written for violin, it has always been an obvious choice for an encore at any performance.

Tune of the Day: Lamentabile by W.F. Bach

This is the second movement of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Flute Duet in F major. It is an extremely slow and meditative piece, marked “Lamentabile”, which in Italian would literally mean “mournful”. The movement is set in binary (AABB) form, and the first part starts out as a canon at the fifth; that is, when the first voice enters it repeats the melody exposed by the second voice, but a fifth higher.

Thanks to Jean-Marc for suggesting this piece!

Tune of the Day: The Swing

As indicated by its title, this study should render the impression of a sweeping motion. The “poco a poco ravivando il tempo” marking at the beginning asks for a very gradually increasing tempo.