This is the first movement from the sixth of Telemann's Sonates sans Basse à deux Flutes traverses, ou à deux Violons, ou à deux Flutes à bec, or “Sonatas without Bass for Two Transverse Flutes, or Two Violins, or Two Recorders”.
Today we present the tenth study from Italian composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's Etudes mignonnes (Dainty Studies), Op. 131.
Collector George Petrie found this “very old Munster tune” in a manuscript music book, and included it in his 1905 Complete Collection of Irish Music under the misspelled title “Gurty's Frolics”. The same melody had previously appeared in the 19th-century manuscript of musician Stephen Grier (1824–1894) from County Leitrim, but the title there was “Gusty's Frolics”.
Francis O'Neill (1913) identifies the composer of this piece as Gustavis Augustus “Gusty” Nicolls, a landlord and uilleann piper of the late 18th and early 19th century who lived near Carrigallen, in the southern part of County Leitrim. “Blessed with manly beauty, musical talents, and worldly wealth, Augustus earned the reputation of being an irresistible heartbreaker also”, says O'Neill. Nicolls was what would be considered a “gentleman piper” and owned an estate at Rossan in the parish of Aughavas. In addition to his other successes, he was remembered as a noted teacher of the pipes, and especially for his ability to teach disabled people, who often when young were trained as professional musicians to be able to make their way in the world.
Here is the second movement of Telemann's Sonata in F minor for bassoon and basso continuo. It is an Allegro in ternary (A-B-A) form which shows a particular rhythmic interest, in that key moments in phrases often occupy unexpected beats of the bar. As a fast movement, it is somewhat virtuosic, especially when the semiquavers come in. Be prepared for them!
This Largo in E minor opens the second of Belgian Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Loeillet's second book of Six sonatas of two parts, made on purpose for two German flutes, first published in London in 1720.