If you’re like me, you’re always on the hunt for a good medium-sized, easy-intermediate, interesting and fun book of etudes for growing flute players. Since I have the unique opportunity of working with students and players of all levels, but mostly middle and high school students, I like to keep a wide variety of pieces to help students have something “tuneful” to play when they are deciding between instruments, and I just added Giuseppe Gariboldi’s 20 Little Etudes to the flute shop library, just re-released under International Music Company. The review of this collection is thanks to Abigail Sperling of The Flutist Quarterly. Giuseppe Gariboldi (1833–1905) should be a familiar name to those acquainted with etudes and studies for flute. Along with Ernesto Köhler (1849–1907) and Joachim Andersen (1847–1909), Gariboldi provided modern flutists with a huge number of works for the instrument. Indeed, Gariboldi’s output has something for every player: young players may start with 58 First Exercises for Flute—a book I use with my own younger students—whereas advanced players will undoubtedly find his Grand Exercises for the Flute both challenging and rewarding. This book of 20 etudes, carefully edited by Karl Kraber, fits well within the early years of

August’s composer of the month is Giulio Briccialdi, thought of as one of the finest and most virtuostic flutists in history. He was and is still known as “the Paganini of the flute,” Paganini being one of the most famous violinists to this day. He was a remarkable virtuoso who toured Europe as a soloist and was responsible for several technical improvements to the flute—now standard features on the instrument. Briccialdi was born in Terni, Italy in 1818 and began studying flute with his father. After his father’s death, the 14-year-old Briccialdi moved to Rome to pursue a musical career and avoid family pressure to join the priesthood. His first appointment was to the Accdemia di Santa Cecilia in Rome at the age of 17. While in Rome he studied composition and, in 1835, began teaching flute at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. He then moved to Naples, where he was the flute teacher for the royal family. In 1841 he toured Europe and America, finally settling in London the following year. In London he became a director of the instrument making firm Rudall and Rose and was responsible for several mechanical developments which are still in use today. As

Our composer of the month for July is yet another important member of the French flute school and arguably one of the founders of that, Paul Taffanel. He was also a conductor, performer, and a prolific chamber musician. He played a very important role in re-vamping the school of thought with regards to Bach’s era. Born in Bordeaux, France, Taffanel received his first lessons on the flute from his father at the age of nine. After giving his first concert at the age of ten, he studied with Vincent Dorus at the Paris Conservatoire. Once he graduated in 1860, he won his first of several awards for flute performance at age sixteen. In 1893, Taffanel became Professor of Flute at the Conservatoire. IAs Professor, he revised the institute’s repertoire and teaching methods, restructuring the traditional masterclass format to give students individual attention while building a reputation as an inspiring teacher. Taffanel also revamped the required repertoire for his Conservatory students. Beginning in 1894, he replaced much of the 19th-century music popular at the time with works by Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers of the 18th century. Until then, French musicians (save for a handful of organists) had ignored the

For our composer of the month of June, we’re featuring Franz Doppler, who was both a flute performer and composer of several well-known flute works. In fact, he was one of the leading performers and composers (of flute music specifically) of the Romantic era. He wrote several operas for Budapest, and his ballet music was also quite popular during his lifetime. Doppler was born in Poland in Lemberg now Lviv, Ukraine. From 1828 to 1831, he received flute lessons from his father, Joseph Doppler, who was an oboist, and he made his debut as a flautist at the age of 13. He formed a flute duo with his brother Karl, and as a duo they caused quite a sensation throughout Europe. Franz and Karl continued to make regular tours of Europe after performing in the Hungarian National Theatre and helped found the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra in 1853. Doppler composed primarily for the flute, as well as opera—and indeed, his operatic writing style is prominent even in his showpieces for flute. He composed concertos, showpieces, and many flute duets, which were played by himself and his brother Karl. His music contains aspects of Russian and Hungarian music. He wrote seven operas and fifteen ballets in total (which were quite popular

This month for our composer of the month feature, we have a 2-for-1 deal: the father-son powerhouse duo, Marcel and Louis Moyse. While Marcel focused most of his energies on performing and Louis is more known for his compilations of flute music, they both left a profound mark on the flute world as performers, authors, and scholars. Many of today’s most famous players, such as James Galway, Trevor Wye, William Bennett, can be counted as Moyse scholars. Marcel Moyse (1889-1984) was one of the most influential flutists of the twentieth century, first in France and later in the United States. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1905, where he studied with Phillippe Gaubert and Paul Taffanel.Moyse played principal flute in various Paris orchestras, appeared widely as a soloist, and made many recordings. Before World War I, Moyse took part in several significant world premieres, including Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (1912) and Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Rite of Spring (1913). While in Europe, he played under the batons of conductors such as Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Strauss, and Toscanini. Moyse’s experience playing in the Paris opera orchestras influenced his teaching; in order to develop tonal flexibility, he encouraged his students to practice nineteenth century operatic arias on the flute. He published many pedagogical works that are

It’s time for another installation of the flute composer of the month, and this month I’m featuring Johann Joachim Quantz. I chose him primarily because he is the composer of one of my favorite concertos I have ever played, his G Major concerto, but it turns out that there is so much more to his history! He was a prolific composer, flute maker, and author of one of the most extensive histories on making and playing flutes at the time. Quantz was one of the first professional flute players in 18th-century Europe. He began as a town musician and was trained to play all instruments, but after gaining a post as an oboist in the prestigious Dresden court ensemble, he began to specialize in the flute in 1719. Between 1724 and 1727, Quantz completed his education by doing a “Grand Tour” of Europe as a flutist. He studied counterpoint with Francesco Gasparini in Rome, met Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples, befriended the flutist Michel Blavet in Paris, and in London was encouraged by Handel to remain there, which he did until he was appointed to a more permanent position in Berlin. One of his principal contributions to music is a book

As promised, this week is another monthly feature on a flute composer, this time a very popular one. Joachim Andersen gave his talents to the flute repertoire, particularly his books of etudes. College students and professionals all over the world most likely have at least one of these challenging etude books. Andersen was born in Copenhagen in 1847, the son of flutist Christian Joachim Andersen. His musical career, naturally, started quite early, and by the age of 13 he was the principal player and soloist of a local orchestra. In 1869 he became employed by the Royal Danish Orchestra as a flutist but resigned after a year of leave in 1878. He was longing for larger challenges and decided to travel abroad. His first stop was Saint Petersburg (1878-1880) where he was the principal flute of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Afterwards in 1881 he went to Berlin where he was engaged as a solo flutist, as well as a member of the orchestra of the Royal German Opera. In 1882 he was a co-founder of the Berlin Philharmonic, which he and 53 other musicians formed out of the former Bilse’s Band. Along with his job as a solo flutist,