duet

Premier Solo pour La Flûte, Op. 20, by Henry Altès

Facsimile Edition by Noteworthy Sheet Music
with a Foreword by Peter H. Bloom

Flute Part and Piano Score, PDF $12.75

Henry Altès (1826-1899) is primarily remembered today as the author of a particularly useful Méthode Complète de Flûte (1906), yet his impact on fellow flutists for nearly a century-and-a-half can hardly be overestimated.  A student of the Boehm flute pioneer Louis Dorus, Altès succeeded Dorus as Professeur au Conservatoire de Parisupon upon the latter's retirement in 1869 and served in that capacity for a record twenty-eight years. Premier Solo pour La Flûte was dedicated to Louis Dorus, and was the first of ten Morceaux des Concours that Altès would write for the annual Paris Conservatory competition.  That this was the only one of the ten to have been required in two contests speaks to its endearing durability.  (excerpted from the foreword by P. H. Bloom) 

The NSM edition of the Premier Solo pour La Flûte avec Accompagnement de Piano by Henry Altès is an “enhanced” facsimile of the original print publication from Paris, chez S. Richault, Editeur, Boulevard Poissonniere, 26 au 1er, R4241. We used an image editing program to clean up digital scans of the original printed pages and make a few minor modifications and corrections, as noted in our publication. We have added a new cover page (paying tribute to Altès’ birthplace of Rouen with a painting by Gauguin) and a foreword by Mr. Bloom, but the music has not been re-notated and thus remains in the original style and format; please have a look at the free preview pages provided before ordering.

Piano and Flute score, 12 pages; Flute Part, 5 pages; Total, 22 pages.

For Children, by Béla Bartók
piano pieces based on Hungarian and Slovakian folksongs

Selected pieces arranged as woodwind duos, trios, or quartets by John W. Pratt and presented in multiple editions, organized by instrumentation and nationality.

Béla Bartók was not only a major composer in a post-Romantic extended tonal style, but he was also a superb pianist with a precise technique, a scholarly explorer of folk music, and a serious pedagog. Folk melodies and harmonies strongly influenced his music, both indirectly and often directly, including many of his orchestral and chamber works, as well as solo piano pieces ranging in difficulty from easy to virtuosic. His For Children (Gyermekeknek, 1908-1909, Sz. 42) was written for solo piano, and the original Books 1 and 2 contained 42 pieces after Hungarian folksongs and 43 pieces after Slovakian folksongs, respectively. Besides the usual purposes of music written for children, Bartók sought to broaden their musical experience with, for instance, modal and other scales, and harmonies outside the traditional western canon. For Children  is by no means pablum; though the notes may be easy to play, these pieces have a lot else to offer. They were written when Bartók’s folksong research was well under way and his notational efforts at their peak. Students, teachers, and every-day players can make as much of them as they like ... as simple tunes for beginners content to learn basic notes and rhythms, or as more advanced studies on articulation, musicality, etc.        —extracted from the preface by JWP

John Pratt has arranged selected pieces from the For Children books as various duos, trios, and quartets for wind instruments.  As presented originally by Bartók, many of the folksongs are entirely or mostly in two voices, like Bach’s two-part inventions in style if not structure or harmony, and thus convenient for wind duo and no more childish for Bartók than Bach.  Many others are also adaptable to duos of flute or oboe and clarinet or bassoon, mostly by spreading the left-hand chords in time.  Still others of the For Children pieces are more suitable for a wind trio of flute (or oboe), B-flat clarinet, and bassoon, or a quartet of flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon.  To compare the specific songs included in our editions with the complete set arranged for piano available in Bartók’s publications, visit the For Children listing on imslp.org.

All of the NSM editions described below are available as downloadable PDFs.  We provide scores, but not separate parts, as all players can easily play off copies of the scores, which are organized for convenient page turns when the PDFs are printed two-sided in their entirety.  Click the Preview button to view a page of the score from each edition. To order, in the table at the bottom of this webpage, check the box for the edition you would like to purchase, click Add to Cart, then click Checkout.

► Bartók - For Children, Book 1 - selected pieces arr. as Duets for Flute (or Oboe) and Clarinet 
This edition includes 25 pieces from Book 1 arranged as duets; all of them can be played by B-flat clarinet and either flute or oboe, but for six of the pieces we also include alternative versions with octave changes that are better suited to oboe.  The pieces included are Nos. 1-15, 22-26, 29, 31, 21, 40, and 42. Click to listen to computer-generated audio samples from the score; audio clips of #11 "Me and the Rain" with flute and clarinet and #32 "Wedding Day and Night" with oboe and clarinet are separated by a brief pause. 

Score, 26 pages; Total, 30 pages.
Preview: Book 1, Flute (or Oboe) and Clarinet

► Bartók - For Children, Book 1 - selected pieces arr. as Duets for Oboe (or Flute) and Bassoon 

Our oboe (or flute) and bassoon edition includes the same 25 pieces from Book 1 as our flute and clarinet edition described above, except here they are arranged and optimized as duets for oboe and bassoon, with alternative versions better suited for flute and bassoon provided for two of the folksongs.

► Bartók - For Children, Book 2 - selected pieces arr. as Duets for Flute (or Oboe) and Clarinet 

Our Book 2 edition of arrangements for flute (or oboe) and clarinet duo includes 23 pieces: Nos. 1-6, 8, 10-13, 16-20, 22, 25, 26, 29, 31, 35, and 36.  All of these pieces can be played by B-flat clarinet and either flute or oboe, but we also include alternative versions that are more suitable for oboe for three of the pieces. 

► Bartók - For Children, Book 2 - selected pieces arranged as Duets for Oboe (or Flute) and Bassoon 

The oboe (or flute) and bassoon edition includes the same 23 pieces from Book 2 described above for flute and clarinet, here arranged and optimized as duets for oboe and bassoon, with an alternative version better suited for flute for one of the pieces.

► Bartók - For Children, Book 1 - selected pieces arranged as Trios for Flute (or Oboe), Clarinet, and Bassoon 

In this trio edition, we present 20 songs from Book 1, including 14 that are also available as duo arrangements in the editions listed above and 6 that are only offered in our trio edition. The pieces are Nos. 1-9, 11, 13-15, 19, 20, 30, 35, 39, 41, and 42.  The trios are arranged for flute or oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon.  Click to listen to a computer-generated audio sample from #39 "Insect Wedding".

Score, 21 pages; Total, 24 pages.
Preview: Book 1, Flute (or Oboe), Clarinet, and Bassoon Trio

► Bartók - For Children, Book 2 - selected pieces arranged as Trios for Flute (or Oboe), Clarinet, and Bassoon 

Here Mr. Pratt offers eighteen of Bartók’s Book 2 Slovakian folksongs in arrangements for a woodwind trio of flute or oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon; the pieces included are Nos. 2, 3, 7, 9, 11-14, 16, 17, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, and 42.  Ten of these songs are also included in our duo arrangement publications.

► Bartók - For Children, Book 1 - selected pieces arranged for Wind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon)

This edition includes eleven of Bartók’s Hungarian folksongs in arrangements for a woodwind quartet of flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon.  Two of these songs, Nos. 19 and 20, are also included in our trio arrangement publication, but none are replicated in the duo arrangement editions; the quartet publication includes Book 1 Nos. 16-21, 27, 28, and 36-38.

Score, 11 pages; Total, 14 pages.
Preview: Book 1, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon Quartet

► Bartók - For Children, Book 2 - selected pieces arranged for Wind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon)

This edition presents seventeen of Bartók’s Book 2 Slovakian folksongs in arrangements for woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon).  Four of these songs, Nos. 11, 14, 25 and 28, are also included in our trio arrangement publication, and several are included in the duo arrangement editions. The Book 2 songs arranged here as quartets are Nos. 5, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 23- 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 38, and 43. Click to listen to a computer-generated audio sample that consists of ~32” of song #5 Bird in Flight (Theme & part of Var.1, through m34), followed immediately by #18 Former Flame in its entirety.

Sonata, Op.22, by Marion Bauer

Transcribed for Alto Flute by Peter H. Bloom (originally for viola)

Alto Flute Part, PDF $11.79

The following notes are excerpted, with permission, from the complete copyrighted foreword written by Peter H. Bloom for the Noteworthy Sheet Music edition of his transcription:

"The career of Marion Eugenie Bauer (1882-1955) as a composer, editor, writer, teacher, supportive colleague and mentor continues to assert a significant impact on the trajectory of American Music.  It's mysterious that her legacy has been so rarely recalled and her music so infrequently performed in the six decades following her death.  ...  In 1906 she was the first of generations of American composers to study in Paris with the redoubtable Nadia Boulanger.   ...  We're fortunate that the composer crafted her own superb transcription of this sonata for clarinet and piano.  In order to achieve the equivalent musical impact, her viola and clarinet versions differ in some places.  The piano part, nevertheless, remains unchanged.  Sometimes we've opted for the clarinet version, sometimes the viola version, and sometimes a conflation of the two.  We have also made a few adaptive changes in tessitura, articulation, phrasing and dynamics to highlight the unique voice of the alto flute.  Though execution may occasionally differ, the rhetorical and emotional shape of the work remains essentially the same."

P. H. Bloom, © January 7, 2014

We provide our alto flute transcription; the piano part is readily available as a free pdf download of the score from sources such as imslp.org/.   

Alto Flute part, 9 pages of music; Total, 12 pages.

Sonata, Op.22, by Marion Bauer

Transcribed for Alto Saxophone (and piano) by Paul Cohen (originally for viola and piano)

Alto Saxophone Part, PDF $11.79

Paul Cohen is one of America's most sought-after saxophonists for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals.  In addition to being a renowned performer and recording artist, he is also a talented arranger, lecturer, and collector of rare and historical instruments.  Dr. Cohen holds MM and DMA degrees from the Manhattan School of Music; he currently serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University.  We at NSM were pleased for the opportunity to collaborate with him on this publication of his transcription of Marion Bauer’s Sonata for alto saxophone.

from Dr. Paul Cohen’s preface to the NSM edition © April 7, 2021: 

“Bauer composed this sonata in 1932 or 1935.  It originally was written for viola, and dedicated to the memory of her friend and colleague, Albert Stoessel who was a distinguished American violinist, conductor, author, composer, and educator in the 20th century.  Bauer soon after created her own idiomatic transcription for clarinet and piano, and the sonata was published as a work for viola or clarinet in 1951.  It is revealing to see the differences in the viola and clarinet versions.  The piano part remains unchanged in both.

There is a history of music for viola successfully adapted for saxophone by the composers.  Fernande Decruck’s Sonata (1943) for saxophone and piano (or orchestra) was originally written for viola, as was Ross Lee Finney’s Sonata in A Minor from 1937 (viola and piano), adapted for saxophone in the early 1970s.  Several works for alto saxophone and orchestra written for the American saxophonist Elise Hall were originally written for viola, including Florent Schmitt’s Legende (1918) and Choral Variee´ (1903) by Vincent D’Indy. Adolph Busch composed his Suite for violin and either viola or alto saxophone in 1926, while in 1923 Darius Milhaud replaced the viola with the saxophone in La Creation du Monde literally positioning the saxophone in the viola chair in the string section.  My saxophone adaptation of Bauer’s Sonata combines elements of the clarinet and viola versions, creating a version appropriate for the alto saxophone.  This includes changes in range, articulation, phrasing and dynamics to create an idiomatic (though challenging) version for the alto saxophone faithful to the musical intent of the composer.”

For additional information about Marion Bauer, please see the text excerpted from Peter H. Bloom’s preface to NSM’s 2014 publication of his transcription of the Sonata for alto flute.

We provide only the transcribed alto saxophone part in our edition; a pdf of the piano score is available from imslp.org.

Alto Saxophone Part, 11 pages; Total, 14 pages

3 Compositions, Op.40, by Amy Beach

Transcribed for Alto Flute and Piano by C.A.Vater

Piano Score and Alto Flute Part, PDF $10.50

Amy Marcy Cheney was born in Henniker, New Hampshire in 1867 and began composing music at the age of four.  Initially home-schooled as a pianist, she continued her music studies in Boston and made her professional debut as a pianist at age 16.   She later became a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  At 18, she married the prominent Boston physician Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach and began using "Mrs. H. H. A. Beach" as her professional name.  She continued to perform occasionally as a pianist, but for many years she focused her musical skills primarily on composing.   After her husband's death in 1910, Mrs. Beach resumed her performing career, beginning with a three year tour of Europe, while also continuing to write music.   Her works were received with great acclaim, and Amy Beach became one of America's leading composers and the first American woman composer to achieve widespread recognition in the United States and abroad.   During her lifetime, she wrote more than 150 numbered works, spanning a variety of genres that included piano pieces, chamber music, orchestral works, sacred choral music, and a great many songs.

Amy Beach's 3 Compositions for Violin and Piano, Op.40, were first published in 1898.   Written in the romantic style, the three pieces are (1) the beautiful but sombre La Captive, (2) a lovely, lyrical Berceuse, and (3) a lively but still tender Mazurka.  In addition to alto flute transcriptions of all three pieces, we include in our edition a version of the Mazurka transcribed for flute and piano (score and part), for those wishing to give this option a try as well.

Alto Flute part, 4 pages; Piano/Alto Flute Score, 10 pages; Alternate "Mazurka" Flute part, 2 pages; "Mazurka" Piano/Flute Score, 5 pages; Total, 29 pages.

Adelaide, by Ludwig van Beethoven

Anonymous Arrangement for Flute, each edition with a Foreword by P. H. Bloom

New Edition, Flute Part and Piano Score (flute part in small staff) – PDF $10.50

Facsimile Edition, Flute Part and Piano Score (original with clarinet part in small staff) – PDF $8.25 

Beethoven completed his musical setting for Friedrich von Matthison's poem Adelaide in 1796.  The song quickly became a favorite interpretive vehicle for instrumentalists as well as singers.  Clarinetist Iwan Müller's "bel canto" treatment, essentially the original melody with added ornaments, cadenzas, and interpretive notations, remained a favorite among concertizing clarinetists for more than a century.  It's likely that Müller's work informs the anonymous arrangement for flute, published by Diabelli in the second quarter of the 19th century, that we present here ....  This anonymous paraphrase of Adelaide is a masterful study of the subtle nuance and passionate restraint of "bel canto" instrumental praxis.  (excerpted from the foreword © by P. H. Bloom)

After offering our facsimile edition of Adelaide for some time, we decided to create a newly-notated modern edition as well.  We love (and perform) this piece so much, that we didn't want anyone to forgo an opportunity to acquaint themselves with it merely due to the 19th century presentation of the facsimile.  Now, there is a choice between the facsimile edition and a modern edition, the latter of course having the flute part in small staff in the score.

Grande Fantaisie, Op. 77, by T. Berbiguier

Gassett Collection - Facsimile Edition by C.A.Vater/Noteworthy Sheet Music, with a Foreword by Peter H. Bloom

Flute and Piano Parts, PDF $16.99

Benoit Tranquille Berbiguier (1782-1838) was among the preeminent European flutists of the early nineteenth century.  Berbiguier was a prolific composer, and his nearly 150 published works include sets of duos and trios for flutes, as well as music that features flute with piano, orchestra, and chamber ensembles.  His Grande Fantaisie avec Variations pour Flûte avec Accompagnement de Piano Forte (Opus 77) was composed on two motifs from Der Freischütz, Carl Maria von Weber's monumental opera which premiered in Berlin in 1821 and became an immediate international sensation.  Sheet music for flute and piano. 

For additional information about the Gassett Collection, please see see our article An Introduction to the Gassett Collection.

Piano part, 9 pages; Flute part, 8 pages; Total, 24 pages.

Les Regrets, Op.104, by T. Berbiguier

Gassett Collection - Facsimile Edition by C.A.Vater/NSM, with a Foreword by Peter H. Bloom

Flute Part and Piano Score, PDF $18.00

Berbiguier dedicated Les Regrets (Mélodie Concertante, Opus 104) to his close friend, the composer-'cellist Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges.  Les Regrets appears to be a missive of consolation from one musical colleague to another, both disillusioned and scarred veterans of decades of nationalist French intrigue.  Though the initial theme is a plaintive rendering of a dour dead-march, its development is mournfully elegant.  The subsequent developments serve to uplift performer and listener with a musical meditation that, though turbulent, avoids bathos.  Dashes of a bit of scherzo here and there move the music, ultimately, to an heroic major-key finale. 

For additional information about the Gassett Collection, please see see our article An Introduction to the Gassett Collection.

Piano score, 18 pages; Flute part, 6 pages; Total, 32 pages.

Nouvelle Fantaisie pour Flûte, Op. 80, by T. Berbiguier

Gassett Collection - Facsimile Edition by C.A.Vater/Noteworthy Sheet Music, with a Foreword by Peter H. Bloom

Flute and Piano Parts, PDF $13.50

Berbiguier's Nouvelle Fantaisie (Opus 80), like his Grande Fantaisie (Opus 77), was composed on melodies from Carl Maria von Weber's genre-defining opera Der Freischütz.  Both pieces were published around 1825.  Enthusiasm for Der Freischütz continued to build in subsequent decades, as evinced by the nearly numberless fantaisies, paraphrases, souvenirs, and variations that have been published.  Melodies from Freischutz pervade the classic repertoire of instruments from aeolian pianola to zither, including examples for concertina, mandolin, saxophone, and ocarina quartet.  Piano and flute sheet music. 

For additional information about the Gassett Collection, please see see our article An Introduction to the Gassett Collection.

Piano part, 11 pages; Flute part, 7 pages

Petite Fantaisie Hongroise No.1, Op.21, by J. Bloch 

Transcribed for Alto Flute and Piano by C.A.Vater

Piano Score and Alto Flute Part, PDF $5.99

József Bloch (1862-1922) was a Hungarian violin virtuoso, composer, and professor at the National Academy of Music and the National Conservatory (www.jewishencyclopedia.com).  His Petite Fantaisie Hongroise No.1, Opus 21, was written for piano and violin and published by Bárd, ca. 1901.  We thought this piece would work beautifully on alto flute, so we created a transcription of the violin part.  In the range written for the Petite Fantaisie Hongroise, the alto flute may evoke the dark, mournful tone of the modern tárogató, which is often referred to as the Hungarian national instrument.  We provide both our transcribed alto flute part and a re-notated edition of the piano score.   

Alto Flute part, 3 pages; Piano Score, 6 pages; Total, 12 pages.

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For those who would prefer to purchase a professionally-printed hard copy of this piece, rather than the PDF download offered above, our print edition of the Bloch Petite Fantaisie Hongroise No.1, Op. 21 transcribed for Piano & Alto Flute is available directly from NSM for $13.49 plus a $5.95 shipping and handling fee to addresses in the USA. Use the Contact Us form to let us know which hard copy publication(s) you would like to purchase, along with your email contact information and USPS mailing address. We will then send you a PayPal invoice for the sale and, once we receive notice from PayPal that you have paid for the item(s), we will ship your music to the address provided.