Wednesday 20 January 2021
Tune of the Day: Knight Errant
arranged for two flutes
This march is attributed to Hortense de Beauharnais, the stepdaughter of French Emperor Napoleon I and Queen consort of Holland. Though she did not have any known education in composition, it is said that she was a very talented singer and pianist, and an acclaimed amateur composer.
A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective “errant” (meaning “wandering”) indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his virtues, either in knightly duels or in the pursuit of courtly love.
The present arrangement for two flutes is taken from Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833.