duet

Sicilienne, Op.78, by Gabriel Fauré

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

Alto Flute Part, PDF $3.79

Sicilienne (Opus 78) was composed by Gabriel Fauré in 1893 and first published as a chamber music version for solo cello or violin with piano accompaniment in 1898.  Numerous transcriptions of this popular piece have been made, including arrangements for flute and piano, viola and piano, horn and piano, flute and harp, 2 flutes and piano, flute and clarinet, and piano solo, among others.  Our alto flute part is a transcription based on the original violin and cello parts of the edition published by J. Hamelle in 1898.  We provide only the transcribed alto flute part; the piano accompaniment is readily available as a free pdf download of the original score for piano and cello, now in the public domain.

Alto Flute part, 2 pages of music; Total, 4 pages.

Old Folks at Home and Oh! Susanna, by Stephen Foster

Arranged with Flute and Cello ad lib by John W. Pratt

Flute Parts, Cello Parts, Voice Parts, and Piano Scores ― PDF $7.99

Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pa., on July 4, 1826...He wrote over 200 songs, including 135 parlor songs, 28 minstrel songs, and 21 hymns and Sunday school songs. A remarkable number are memorable, as the ditty above will attest to anyone with anything like my background. One wonders why. The harmonies and rhythms are basic, as are the forms and rhyme schemes (see above), the music is repetitious, and the vocal range rarely goes outside an octave (a great benefit for community singing). Yet the fit is so natural and the pacing so well judged that the songs are ideally effective and diabolically catchy. Foster is perhaps, though on a different plane, the Mozart of his field...

For a pianist playing several stanzas at a sing-along, Foster's songs do become a little dull. But their very simplicity, repetitiousness, and familiarity abet variation as, again on a different plane, chorales serve Bach chorale preludes. Like chorale preludes, the piano parts here always incorporate the melody, so they can be played solo or to accompany amateur singers. It struck me that they could be enhanced by optional flute parts. After writing them, I discovered that, according to his brother Morrison, Foster himself "delighted in playing accompaniments on the flute...As the song went on he would improvise...the most beautiful variations upon its musical theme." If Foster's improvisations were like the one his brother published, however, they just varied the melody itself in the manner of the period. My game is more ambitious, as you will easily see. I added optional cello parts, mostly for color, as in the Haydn trios but superficially more interesting for the cellist. (Again we are on a different plane, of course.)

"Oh! Susanna," one of the best-known American songs by anybody, is Foster's "Erlkönig." (Speak of different planes!) With its nonsensical lyrics and polka beat, it is clearly comical, and I treated it accordingly. It was written in Cincinnati, possibly for a social club, first performed at an ice cream saloon in Pittsburgh in 1847, and published in 1848. When no American song had sold over 5,000 copies, it sold over 100,000. It earned Foster only $100, but its popularity led to a publisher's offer, convincing him to become a professional songwriter, America's first.

"Old Folks at Home" established Foster as a truly American composer. It was written in 1851 for a blackface troupe whose leader paid Foster about $15 to be credited for it. When almost finished, Foster asked his brother for "a good name of two syllables for a Southern river." He rejected Yazoo and Pedee, but was delighted with Swanee, a shortening of Suwanee, a small river in Florida which his brother found in an atlas. Though about a slave's nostalgia for home, I find its theme universal and melancholy and I resisted the temptation to jazz it up. Please try, at least, a slowish tempo.

― John W. Pratt, May 27, 2013 ©

Flute parts, 2 pages; Cello parts, 2 pages; Voice parts, 2 pages; Scores, 7 pages; Total, 18 pages.

Adagio et Rondo Brillant, Op.95, by A. B. Fürstenau

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

Flute Part and Piano Score, PDF $12.00

Anton Bernhard Fürstenau (1792-1852) was among the most revered flutists of the 19th century.  Following his appointment to the post of principal flute for the Royal Chapel at Dresden in 1820, Fürstenau became a valued colleague and close personal friend of the court's music director, Carl Maria von Weber.  The influence of Weber's dramatic melodic gestures and edgy harmonic shifts can be heard in this passionately evocative Adagio et Rondo Brillant.  An NSM favorite!  

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

Piano score, 12 pages; Flute part, 4 pages; Total, 20 pages.

Adagio et Variations pour la Flûte sur un Thême de Caraffa, Op. 71, by W. Gabrielsky

Gassett Collection - New Edition by Noteworthy Sheet Music

Flute Part and Piano Score, PDF $18.75

Johann Wilhelm Gabrielski (or Gabrielsky), 1795-1846, was an acclaimed German flutist and composer from Berlin.  In 1814 Gabrielski secured a position as flutist at the theatre in Stettin and within two years was appointed to the Royal Court.  Gabrielski's compositions, of which there are more than 100, were highly esteemed and popular in his day.  Although these works have much to offer modern day flutists as well, Gabrielski's music is neither widely known nor readily available today.  The Adagio et Variations pour la Flûte, Op. 71, exploits melodic material by Michele Enrico Carafa (Caraffa) di Colobrano (1787-1872), a Naples born musician who had a remarkably successful career in Paris as a composer for the Opéra-Comique and as a professor of composition and counterpoint at The Conservatoire.  The work showcases the flutist's virtuosity, atop a relatively uncomplicated piano accompaniment.  

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

Flute part, 11 pages; Piano Score, 16 pages; Total, 31 pages. 

Fantasiestücke, Op.43, by Niels W. Gade

Transcribed for Alto Flute (and Piano) by John W. Pratt

Alto Flute Part, PDF $6.99

Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817–1890) became the preeminent figure in 19th century Danish musical life after an early success in Copenhagen and five years in Leipzig as Mendelssohn's assistant and successor.  His Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces, Opus 43) for clarinet (or violin) and piano were published in 1864, apparently his only work published that year although others were in progress.  They are dedicated to the clarinetist "Herrn Kammermusiker Mozart Petersen."  Our flute transcriptions take into account the nature of the flute and the discrepancies between Gade's original score and the clarinet and violin parts.  We provide our alto flute part; the piano score is readily available in the public domain as a free pdf download of the score for clarinet and piano.  Here is a link to one such source: Piano Score

Alto Flute part, 7 pages; Total, 10 pages.

Fantasiestücke, Op.43, by Niels W. Gade

Transcribed for Flute (and Piano) by J. W. Pratt

Flute Part, PDF $6.99

Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817–1890) became the preeminent figure in 19th century Danish musical life after an early success in Copenhagen and five years in Leipzig as Mendelssohn's assistant and successor.  His Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces, Opus 43) for clarinet (or violin) and piano were published in 1864, apparently his only work published that year although others were in progress.  They are dedicated to the clarinetist "Herrn Kammermusiker Mozart Petersen."  Our flute transcriptions take into account the nature of the flute and the discrepancies between Gade's original score and the clarinet and violin parts.  The piano score is readily available in the public domain, as a free pdf download of the score for clarinet and piano. Here is a link to one such source: Piano Score

Flute part, 7 pages; Total, 10 pages.

Deux Esquisses, by Philippe Gaubert

transcribed for Clarinet and Piano by C. A. Vater

Clarinet part and Piano score, PDF $9.99

Philippe Gaubert was a prominent French flutist, composer, and conductor who held a professorship at the Paris Conservatory and principal conducting positions at the Paris Opéra and the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire. We’ve created a transcription of his Deux Esquisses (Two Sketches) for B♭ clarinet, complete with piano score. These pieces were written for flute and piano but are nicely adaptable for other winds. They were originally published by Heugel & Cie, in 1915 (No.1) and 1914 (No.2), and are now in the public domain. No.1, Soir sur la Plaine (Evening on the Plain), opens intriguingly with the solo instrument playing alone, repeating a single note. This motif sets the lovely, mysteriously forlorn tone of Soir sur la Plaine, and returns multiple times later in the piece. No.2, the second sketch, is Orientale, which, as its name suggests, evokes an atmosphere seemingly strange and foreign, Eastern.

Piano Score, 10 pages; Clarinet part, 4 pages; Total, 20 pages.

Glazunov - Chant du Ménestrel, Op.71, by Alexander Glazunov

Transcribed for A-Clarinet and Piano by C.A.Vater

Score and Part; PDF $7.99

Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) was an eminent composer in the late Russian romantic tradition.  In 1901, he published two versions of his Chant du Ménestrel, one for cello and orchestra and another for cello and piano, dedicating the work to Alexandre Wierzbilowicz, principal cello at the Russian Imperial Opera Orchestra and a professor at the Conservatory.  Chant du Ménestrel (Minstrel’s Song) is a sorrowful, romantic piece that evokes the image of a Russian troubadour wandering the countryside, singing his sad songs.  The lyrical, expressive solo cello line is without double stops and readily transcribed for other instruments.  Written in the key of F# minor, this short work (average duration 3-4 minutes) adapts especially well for A-clarinet.  

Score, 4 pages; A-Clarinet part, 2 pages; Total, 10 pages. 

Elegy, Op.44, by Alexander Glazunov

Transcribed for Flute or Alto Flute (and Piano) by John W. Pratt

Parts for Flute and Alto Flute, PDF $5.99

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865-1936) was a major composer in the late Russian romantic tradition.  His Elegy, Op.44, was written for viola and piano in 1893.  The viola melody is readily adaptable for other instruments, since it is without double stops, and has been transcribed here by John W. Pratt for either flute or alto flute.  The piece is about 6 minutes long, elegiac but not lugubrious.  It consists of a lovely melody in 9/8 time, enhanced by a simple but warm piano accompaniment.  The NSM edition includes a flute part and an alternative alto flute part, but does not include one for piano, since a suitable score is freely available at IMSLP.org.

Flute part, 2 pages; Alto Flute part, 2 pages; Total, 8 pages.

Elegy, Op.44, by Alexander Glazunov

Transcribed for Bb Clarinet (and Piano) by John W. Pratt

Clarinet Part — PDF $3.99

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (b. St. Petersburg, 1865; d. Paris, 1936) was a major composer in the late Russian romantic tradition. His Elegy, Op.44, was written for viola and piano in 1893, and has been transcribed by John W. Pratt for Bb clarinet. The piece is about 6 minutes long, elegiac but not lugubrious. It consists of a lovely melody in 9/8 enhanced by a simple but warm piano accompaniment. The viola melody is readily transcribed for other instruments, since it is without double stops. The piano part is freely available at IMSLP.org.

Clarinet part, 2 pages; Total, 6 pages.