Solo Flute Research Articles

Rhythms of Diplomacy: Pan-American Echoes in Guarnieri’s Flute Improviso No. 2

This article delves into composer Camargo Guarnieri's interaction with Pan-Americanist thinking in 1940s Brazil and its impact on his compositions, particularly focusing on Improviso No. 2 for solo flute. Amid intercontinental unity ideals, Guarnieri's connections with U.S. cultural envoys Carleton Sprague Smith and Aaron Copland influenced his works. Examining Improviso No. 2 through Topic Theory, the study unveils the rhythmic elements reflecting Guarnieri's immersion in the Latin Americanist environment fostered by his American contacts. Overlooked archival sources, including Smith's and Copland's reports and correspondence, enrich the analysis, providing insights into Guarnieri's musical choices and experiences within the cultural exchange landscape. The article contributes to a deeper understanding of Guarnieri's music and its ties to Pan-Americanist ideals, shedding light on a lesser-known facet of his compositional output.

THE FIGURE OF G.P. TELEMAN AS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE FLUTE REPERTOIRE OF THE BAROQUE ERA

The purpose of our article is to determine the role of flute music in the work of one of the most famous composers of the baroque – G. P. Teleman. The methodology of the research consists in the use of a historical approach – when defining the genres of flute music, analysis – the definition of typological features, a comparative method that allows comparing researchers' opinions on the genre features of Teleman's work. The development of instrumental music was closely related to the development of flute performance. Therefore, it is not surprising that composers pay attention to this instrument. Taking into account the artistic content of G. P. Teleman's compositions, we can highlight the following leading genre varieties: fantasies, sonatas, concerts, duets, quartets, partitas, suites. These and other works of Telemann were written both for solo flute and its ensemble combination. These works became the basis of the development of the flute repertoire.

Neo-classical Etude for Flute Solo: Evaluation of Karg Elert “op.107 no.30 Chaconne” in Terms of Technique and Pedagogy

Sigfrid Karg-Elert, one of the German organ composers of the 20th century, introduced the etudes titled 30 Caprices for Flute Solo Op. 107 into the flute education repertoire to meet the technical demands of the period’s orchestral music and flute repertoire. Among these etudes, no.30 Chaconne is a concert etude combining elements that require advanced technique with musical expression and style. This research, which aims to examine Karg-Elert’s op.107 no.30 Chaconne etude in terms of form, technique, and pedagogy, is a descriptive case study. A general form analysis of Chaconne was made in the first dimension of the research. Chaconne was examined from a technical perspective in the second dimension of the study. The techniques included in the etude are categorized as articulation technique, finger technique, sonority/embouchure technique, and ornaments. The techniques’ usage rates in the etude are determined by frequency and percentages. Among the various articulation techniques included in the etude, the legato technique has the highest usage rate, with 42.10%, and among the fingering techniques, chromatic scales had the highest at 30.26%. In sonority techniques, the usage rate of wide intervals of octave and above is very high at 39.47%. In this context, it has been determined that the most decisive difficulty in the etude comes from the use of wide intervals, and it has been concluded that a significant level of flexibility and embouchure control must be provided in the performance of the etude. The technical difficulties included in the etude were determined on a variation basis in the last dimension of the study, and a study guide consisting of original exercise suggestions was presented. This study is novel in the literature as it presents a study guide on Chaconne. Also, this study is thought to contribute to musical literacy by enabling performers to comprehend Karg Elert Chaconne multi-dimensionally.

The Genre of Poems in the Flute Repertory(on The Example of the Works by Ch. Griffiths and J. Kolodub)

The essence of the concept "poem" is analyzed in the context of the origins of this genre. The characteristic features of the studied genre are clarified not only from the literary standpoint, but also from the standpoint of the musical-instrumental genre. The relevance of the study of the "poem" genre is highlighted as a type of flute musical work. Its uniqueness and significance in the flute repertoire among diverse flute works is confirmed. Two works of the same genre by American and Ukrainian composers, who are representatives of different composer schools and traditions, but whose works share common features, are considered. A detailed musical analysis of two "Poems" in versions for flute and piano was carried out by studying the musical text and the most popular modern performing interpretations. Their structural, substantive, and shape-forming components have been studied. It has been proven that works that had been created for solo flute accompanied by an orchestra gained more popularity and distribution than versions for flute and piano. It has been clarified to which period of creativity each composer's work belongs. It is indicated which elements of the musical language, means of expression and other compositional techniques characterize this stage of the creative activity of each of the composers. The relationship between the flute and piano parts has been established. The interaction between them and equality, which are characteristic of chamber works, have been revealed. Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the musical language that characterize each of the composers and that are clearly manifested in the specified works. The author discovered the identity between the eastern motifs that exist in the music of Ch. Griffiths and the features of the use of characteristic musical modes in the work of Zh. Kolodub. The coloristic direction of impressionism was found, which is the main characteristic feature of the studied style, this feature was clearly manifested in both works. The expansion of the technical capabilities of the musical instrument (flute) was studied, which is observed in the use of contrasting nuances, registers, in unexpected solutions, combinations of time signatures, the presence of intricacies of heartbreaking passages and melodic constructions.

THE BIRD-WHILE a Concerto for Solo Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Violin, and Cello, and Symphonic Winds Commissioned by Hub New Music

THE BIRD-WHILE a Concerto for Solo Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Violin, and Cello, and Symphonic Winds Commissioned by Hub New Music

Buddhi-meditative echoes of Shakuhachi in flute solo compositions of Wil Offermans in the context "west–east"

Buddhi-meditative echoes of Shakuhachi in flute solo compositions of Wil Offermans in the context "west–east"

Teknik Permainan Beatbox Flute Dalam Box Karya Christopher Kuhns

The composition of solo flute created by Christopher Kuhns entitled ‘BOX’ is interesting because it uses beatbox tecnique in playing the flute. beatbox technique in flute is not a new technique for flute, Greg Pattillo is one of the flutist has introduced this technique in 2009. This research aims to describe the beatbox flute technique used in Box coposition and how to produce beatbox technique through articulation and tonguing in flute. The method used by researcher is a qualitative descriptive research methode with a analysis approach. The data obtained though literature studies, music score of Box, collecting audio-visual documentation in the form of performing Box composition through the internet and interview with Christopher Kuhns, Greg Pattillo, and Willem Carolus Cristopherson Tamnge. The result of this research show that the flute not only can produce melodic sounds, but also can produce percussive sounds with many sound colors. Beatbox technique was imitating percussion sound such as; bass drum, hi-hat, and snare. In Box Composition, there are seven beatbox articulation techniques, such as classic kick, closed k hi-hat, closed t hi-hat, meshed snare, open t hi-hat, shaker, and classic inward snare. The flute articulation techniques are accent, legato, staccato, and slur, also tonguing techniques used in Box composition are single tonguing and double tonguing. The application of articulation and tonguing influence each other in beatbox flute palying to produce clear melody and rhythm.

Syntaxes and metro-rhythmic categories in Viorel Munteanu’s Concerto for flute and string orchestra

Abstract the piece by composer Viorel Munteanu reveals the symbiosis between past musical ages and modernity, between established compositional techniques (of the string orchestra) and contemporary sound emission processes (the solo flute). The syntaxes of past trends in music, polyphony and homophony, as well as modern treatments of rhythm, such as polyrhythm, coexist felicitously and result in a type of musical thought that, although anchored in the past, looks forward to the future. Rhythm can be considered from various metric perspectives, especially in the faster parts of the concerto. Rhythmic layers are present both vertically (polyrhythms) and horizontally (polyphons of rhythms); the cross of the two variants is of particular interest. The aksak rhythm, characteristic of the Balkan area, may come as a surprise as it briefly occurs in Part III; this unexpected element brings an inspired change of horizon, followed by a return to the previous giusto expression. The form of the last part, Rondo, can also be discussed from a modern perspective, rooted in the past; it could actually be placed within in the Rondo-Sonata pattern; however, its sound contour does not belong to the tonal sphere, but rather to a form of extended modalism. The soloist instrument merges with the string orchestra and emerges from it, in a discourse that clearly bears the mark of the composer’s creative personality. The most successful element of the work is its expressiveness, the way in which the compositional and technical means are subordinated to the aesthetic message that Viorel Munteanu intends to transmit to the public.

Eco and Berio between Music and Open Work

Although Eco was deeply interested in music, his bibliography does not include a work entirely and exclusively dedicated to this theme. However, references to the problems of musical production, listening, interpretation and transmission are scattered in numerous essays, and are often implicitly or explicitly linked to the theoretical and compositional work of his friend and composer Luciano Berio, who in turn dialogued with the developments of Eco’s thought. This article reconstructs the intellectual relationship and friendship between Eco and Berio, originated in the fifties at the Rai studios in Milan; then it examines the passages in Eco’s work dedicated to music, from The Open Work (1962) to Kant and the Platypus (1997). Finally, the article focuses on the controversies raised by the concept of open work, conceived by Eco starting from some musical works including Berio’s Sequenza I for solo flute (1958). With respect to the freedom left to the performer in the 1958 score, Berio’s rewriting in traditional notation in the Nineties seems to undermine at its roots the idea of openness which, according to Eco, distinguishes contemporary poetics. This circumstance provoked some musicological, philological and philosophical controversies, which allowed Eco (2012) to return to reflect on the concept of open work, specifying and clarifying the aesthetic conception underlying it.

Transpozicija mita o Panovoj fruli u Satirovoj svirali Petra Konjovića - fantazijski i baladni punktovi

In this paper we interpret the elements of the fantasy and ballad principle in Satirova svirala [La flûte de Pan] (1945) for solo flute written by Petar Konjović (1883-1970) from the point of view of the author's poetics and musical and non-musical analogies with Claude Debussy's (1862-1918) composition Syrinx (1913). Aspects of the fantasy principle are equally manifested when considering Satirova svirala as a unique musical entity that musicalizes the myth of Pan's flute, as well as in the context of its dramaturgical position, as being the central movement (Andante più sostenuto e molto rubato) in the five-movement Concert Suite for Wind Quintet. The variation principle, ballad-like 'narrativity' of the flute part, improvisational character, and rubato spaces of the Svirala's musical flow emanate the Other logic and "free play" inseparable from fantasy, resonating, at the same time, with the mythical narrative.

Écoutant la musique de pan: Regarding the ontological horizons of 'Pause' in Claude Debussy’s Syrinx

The basic thesis of this paper is that 'pause' represents the ontological center of Claude Debussy?s (1862-1918) Syrinx for solo flute (1913). The phenomenon of the musical work is interpreted through an ontological perspective, following Roman Ingarden?s reflections presented in his Ontology of the Work of Art, having also in mind the different modes in which music can exist, that can be read from Ferruccio Busoni?s Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music. Since the programmatic content of Syrinx represents the myth of Pan?s flute, we necessarily introduce Mircea Eliade's explication of the phenomenon of myth, more precisely, of the mythical time, into the theoretical discussion as well.

Particularities of “30 Caprices for Solo Flute” by Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Particularities of “30 Caprices for Solo Flute” by Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Nielsen, Shakespeare and the Flute Concerto: From Character to Archetype

In June 1916 Nielsen supplied incidental music for the tercentenary Shakespeare celebrations in Hamlet’s castle of Kronborg, Helsingør (Elsinore). The three choruses and two songs he composed constitute one of his least-known works. But they had a legacy, and not only in the final choral number, which, to other words, subsequently became a candidate for Danish national anthem. Shortly after the event, Nielsen confided that he found Ariel and Caliban (for each of whom he had composed a sharply characterful song) so fascinating that he was considering writing an instrumental work based on their contrasting temperaments. This he never did, at least not overtly. However, ten years later the drastic instrumental contrasts in his Flute Concerto invite a reading based on the Ariel/Caliban duality. The distinctiveness of the concerto’s confrontation between the flute solo and the orchestral bass trombone has long been recognised. However, this duality takes on a more focused and at the same time broader significance when viewed in the light of Nielsen’s life-long, albeit mainly indirect, engagement with Shakespeare. Suggesting how a composer’s occasional character-music may re-emerge in their concert work in the guise of archetypes, our article seeks to contribute to a growing field of investigation into the relationship between ‘applied’ and concert music.

Re-embodying Syrinx in the ancient Peloponnese and French colonial Belle Époque: Investigating bodily change associated with sexual assault

This article investigates related contexts and connections that both hide and display the coercion and sexual violence manifest in Western cultural and aesthetic artefacts during ancient Greek and Roman eras and the French imperialist epoch. Exploring ‘Pan and Syrinx’ from Ovid’s ‘Book I’ of the Metamorphoses (8 ce) and Claude Debussy’s Syrinx (1913) for solo flute, I historicise the meanings of rape and sexual assault that informed Ovid’s epic and then revisit the genesis of Debussy’s Syrinx because of the uneasy elements surrounding its creation. I show how its cultural production is complicit with the imperial in several ways. I consider how sexual violence impacts voice, subjectivity and the body, and finally, I draw on Luce Irigaray’s work to sketch an embodied Syrinx in relation with others and her environment. I suggest the desiring potential of sexual difference, with limitations, as a generative conception of figuring the feminine-maternal body beyond masculine appropriation. In this way I open the myth up to watery material-social relations.

Flute Art in the Light of the Historical Significance of Methodological Schools and Directions in Music Education: The Past and Present

Professional activity of the flutist encompasses a sizeable repertoire, in terms of its volume and time span, comprising works for the flute solo, as well as with ensemble and orchestra. It presupposes the available deep artistic knowledge, orientation in the subjects of teaching this profession, history and theory of music, harmony, acoustics, psychology, etc. By defining basic priorities in the formation of the performing mastery of the flutist, this article focuses on the progressive provisions of psychophysiological methods. It monitors the historical path and the evolution of this branch via the examination of major publications, professional theses that defined the facets of the entire eras of this direction of instrumental art. Nowadays the results of psychophysiological research in the field of music pedagogy give us a great opportunity to improve practising methods and realize the misunderstandings in the interpretation of concepts, differentiating their meaning and role in the work of a musician. They also combine the properties of content (reason) and expressiveness (consequence) of performing art into a single complex of creative artistic flutist activity. Under anatomical and physiological circumstances the musician’s performing technique, such as fixation of body posture elements and the passivity of hearing, achieving free, natural movements, mainly stereotypical reaction-response to image-stimulus and struggle with variability of technical means acquires an active research character. A contradictory condition for the emergence of reflexes in psychotechnics and search for sound freedom, which previously played an ascertaining role, call for reconsideration under these new conditions. The focus is shifted towards the development of artistic thinking of professional musicians, the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to relate vivid associative impressions with intonational phenomena and processes, as well as the formation of the performing apparatus and mastering the art of interpretation.

В. Шендерович. «Соло на флейте»: к проблеме определения жанра (между злой сатирой и литературной фугой)

В. Шендерович. «Соло на флейте»: к проблеме определения жанра (между злой сатирой и литературной фугой)

Counterpoint as a contentive and stylistic device in the intermedial genre (about Viktor Shenderovich’s A Flute Solo)

In 2015, Vremya Publishing House issued A Flute Solo, a book by V. Shenderovich, a multigenre and, according to the author of the article, intermedial work, since the peculiarities of the content of a political satire and a tragedy, a farce and a fantasy on the one hand and some features of musical pieces, a fugue in particular, on the other hand, have merged there. The author provides a detailed characterization of the plot, constructed as a grotesque depiction of the reality, the composition as relating a verbal text to a piece of music, and the symbolic value of certain elements, allowing not to agree to the definition of the book as being “desperately hopeless”.

Neo-impressionistic traits in the creativeness of Eugene Bozza (on the example of wind solo’s compositions)

The purpose of this represented scientific article is revealing the most character-logical traits in relation to composer style of the French master E. Bozza, which are binding with the particularities of the neo-impressionistic vector in the European academic art from the second half of the 20th century. The series of methods concerning this signified investigation are making from the applying of comparative, axiological, structurally analytical, as well as functional approaches relatively studying of the designated theme. The utilization of methods such as performing analysis and synthesis are having the specific importance. The scientific newness of denoted article is stipulated by designation of style traits regarding little investigated compositions for wind professional instruments by E. Bozza, which were written in performing form of academic instrumental solo (wind solo). That is stage-single musical process, a namely „Improvisation and capriceˮ for saxophone-alto solo, „Imageˮ for flute solo as well as Etude-caprice № 5 for saxophone solo. Conclusions. First of all, the local grinding of the specific musically expressive color, artistic paint on the motive differentiation, separation, peculiar intonation divisionism belong to the most characteristic, maximally singular traits of E. Bozzaʼs neo-impressionistic style in the professional compositions of academic wind solo. In this way, the clear sounding of determined wind academic instrument with the particular motive intonation locality, with concentration on the precisely denoted artistic expression create maximal characterization for neo-impressionistic development of musical material. Artistic content of concentrative motive evolution in relation to musical thought of E. Bozza is intensified by dominant signification of generalizing type of musical program. The flexible possibilities concerning free ideally imaginative interpretation of artistic content as a performer and listener is created by using of that program kind.

Programme Instrumental Theory as a Principle of Thinking of the Performer (The Case of Musical Compositions for the Solo Flute of Chinese Composers of the Twentieth Century)

The aim of the paper is concerned with the programme instrumental theory in the flute art as a principle of thinking of the performer that is embodied in composer’s attitude toward the flute and the comprehension of timbre possibilities of the flute in single works.Research methodology. The offered paradigm of studying the programme instrumental theory in the flute art makes it possible to connect aesthetic and culturological, genre and stylistic approaches in the context of musicological method.Results. The specific character of art thinking of the performer reveals the world-modeling, semantic, timbre-coloristical and time-spatial parameters of musical sound. The author determines the main historical and culturological and immanent stylistic factors of the flute performance as a unity of composer’s and performing creation, as the co-operation of academic and non-academic options of the flute instrumentalism.Novelty. The analysis of traditional and innovative repertoire of the flutist achieves a stylistic and textological level and enables to line up the conception of “flute instrumentalism” as a theory and practically meaningful for a modern flutist — performer and teacher. The unity of performing and musicological issues is confirmed in the course of musical message. Certain performing ways are revealed in the context of artistic and stylistic bases of the flute performance.The practical significance. The key results can be used in the lectures of performing skills, as well as in the series of lectures «Music Culture of Foreign Countries».Keywords: flute, programme music, instrumental theory, principles of art thinking, genre, style.

Debussy's Lasting Impact on Flute Composition

In 1913, French composer Claude Debussy penned a work for solo flute that to this day has remained popular in the flute repertoire. Syrinx, written to accompany a scene in the play Psyche, tells the story of Pan and Syrinx from Greek mythology. This poster project seeks to explain the impact that Debussy’s Syrinx has made on 20th and 21st Century flute composition. This impact included descriptive music, use of whole tone scales, freedom from strict meter, and a poetic performance style for the unaccompanied flute genre. Some elements of Debussy’s style come from his first encounter with Asian music at the World’s Fair. In the Baroque period, it was not unusual for composers to write for unaccompanied instruments. Scholars estimate that J. S. Bach’s Partita in A Minor was written sometime in the 1720s, while Telemann composed Twelve Fantasias for Solo Flute in 1732-33. After the Baroque period, the solo flute genre was absent from the repertoire until Debussy’s Syrinx. Nearly 200 years later, he gave the solo flute a new sound, which, in turn, inspired more composers to write for unaccompanied flute. The 20th Century surge of works written for solo flute is no doubt partially due to the further development of the instrument into its modern day form. However, the increase originates with Debussy’s Syrinx. Upon examination of the solo flute repertoire, it appears that Debussy is the composer most responsible for encouraging the composition of contemporary works for the flute. The research includes primary sources such as the score, the script to the play Psyche, and the abundance of subsequent solo flute compositions. Different online music resources were consulted for background information and musical interpretation.