Looking for books about the flute? Here's some suggested ones:
The Flute by
The story of the flute in the musical life of Europe and North America from the 12th century to the 21st. It seeks to illustrate the relationship that has bound the instrument, its music, and performance technique together through eight centuries of shifting musical tastes and practices.
The Flute Book by
Teachers and flutists at all levels have praised Nancy Toff'sThe Flute Book, a unique one-stop guide to the flute and its music. Organized into four main parts--The Instrument, Performance, The Music, and Repertoire Catalog--the book begins with a description of the instrument and its making, offers information on choosing and caring for a flute, sketches a history of the flute, and discusses differences between members of the flute family. In the Performance section, readers learn about breathing, tone, vibrato, articulation, technique, style, performing, and recording. In the extensive analysis of flute literature that follows, Toff places individual pieces in historical context. The book ends with a comprehensive catalog of solo and chamber repertoire, and includes appendices with fingering charts as well as lists of current flute manufacturers, repair shops, sources for flute music and books, and flute clubs and related organizations worldwide. In this Third Edition, Toff has updated the book to reflect technology's advancements--like new digital recording technology and recordings' more prevalent online availability--over the last decade. She has also accounted for new scholarship on baroque literature; recent developments such as the contrabass flute, quarter-tone flute, and various manufacturing refinements and experiments; consumers' purchase prices for flutes; and a thoroughly updated repertoire catalog and appendices.
The Early Flute by
With the growth of interest in recent years in the use of period instruments in recordings and professional and amateur performances, the early flute has experienced a remarkable revival. This is the first book in modern times to deal exclusively with the transverse flute in the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras, following it from 1500 until the early nineteenth century. Advice is given on acquiring instruments and their care and maintenance. Additional chapters guide the reader to relevant sources about techniques and style, recommend repertoire, and give general advice to the modern player. The text is enhanced by numerous illustrations of important historic flutes.
Monarch of the Flute by
Georges Barrère (1876-1944) holds a preeminent place in the history of American flute playing. Best known for two of the landmark works that were written for him--the Poem of Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Density 21.5 by Edgard Varèse--he was the most prominent early exemplar of the Paris Conservatoire tradition in the United States and set a new standard for American woodwind performance. Barrère's story is a musical tale of two cities, and this book uses his life as a window onto musical life in Belle Epoque Paris and twentieth-century New York. Recurrent themes are the interactions of composers and performers; the promotion of new music; the management, personnel, and repertoire of symphony orchestras; the economic and social status of the orchestral and solo musician, including the increasing power of musicians' unions; the role of patronage, particularly women patrons; and the growth of chamber music as a professional performance medium. A student of Paul Taffanel at the Paris Conservatoire, at age eighteen Barrère played in the premiere of Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. He went on to become solo flutist of the Concerts Colonne and to found the Sociètè Moderne d'Instruments á Vent, a pioneering woodwind ensemble that premiered 61 works by 40 composers in its first ten years. Invited by Walter Damrosch to become principal flute of the New York Symphony in 1905, he founded the woodwind department at the Institute of Musical Art (later Juilliard). His many ensembles toured the United States, building new audiences for chamber music and promoting French repertoire as well as new American music. Toff narrates Barrère's relationships with the finest musicians and artists of his day, among them Isadora Duncan, Yvette Guilbert, André Caplet, Paul Hindemith, Albert Roussel, Wallingford Riegger, and Henry Brant. The appendices of the book, which list Barrère's 170 premieres and the 50 works dedicated to him, are a resource for a new generation of performers. Based on extensive archival research and oral histories in both France and the United States, this is the first biography of Barrère. It is being published in conjunction with the centennial of his arrival in the United States in May 1905.
The Simple Flute by
For professional and amateur flautists as well as students of the flute, this book offers a practical introduction to all aspects of playing the flute. Using an accessible A-Z format, the author offers a logical and imaginative work on flute performance that places technique at the service of music on every page. In these concise essays, readers will find simple, sensible answers to all of the problems flautists regularly encounter. Debost covers the expected topics - such as breathing, articulation, and tone - and offers personal insights into such issues as "jawboning," "finger phrasing," and "the little devils."
The Virtuoso Flute-Player by
This is an English translation of Tutor for Playing the Flute (1791) by Johann George Tromlitz. The most explicit of the eighteenth-century tutors for flute-playing, it now serves as a record of instrumental practice as well as a useful guide to the performance of German classical music. The Tutor covers all aspects of flute playing, including intonation, articulation, flute maintenance, posture and breathing, dynamics, ornaments, musical style, cadenzas, and the construction of the flute. This edition will be an indispensable manual for players of baroque and modern flutes, and the information it contains will be invaluable for all musicians, students, and specialists interested in the historically informed performance of German classical music. The text is annotated with critical notes and all of the original music examples are newly printed in modern notation. The volume also contains a fingering chart and a historical introduction.
Notes for Flutists by
Notes for Flutists: A Guide to the Repertoire offers important historical and analytical information about three dozen of the best-known pieces written for the instrument. Its contextual and theoretical insights make it an essential resource for professional, amateur, and student flutists. With engaging prose supported by fact-filled analytical charts, the book offers rich biographical information and informative analyses to help flutists gain a more complete understanding of J. S. Bach's Sonata in B minor, Reinecke's Undine Sonata, Fauré's Fantaisie, Hindemith's Sonata for Flute and Piano, Copland's Duo for Flute and Piano, and 30 other masterpieces. Offering a faithful and comprehensive guide to understanding the contexts in which the repertoire was composed, Notes for Flutists details in clear, chronological order flute repertoire from Telemann, Mozart, and Enescu to Prokofiev, Poulenc, and Muczynski. Kyle Dzapo includes biographical information on each composer and highlights history's impact on the creation and performance of important works for flute. Intended as a starting point for connecting performance studies with scholarship, Dr. Dzapo's analysis will help flutists gain a more complete picture of a given work. Its valuable insights make it essential to musicians preparing and presenting programs, and its detailed historical information about the work and composer will encourage readers to explore other works in a similarly analytical way. Covering concertos, chamber pieces, and works for solo flute, Kyle Dzapo presents Notes for Flutists, an indispensable handbook for students and professionals alike.
Taffanel by
The French flute player and conductor Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was an extraordinary virtuoso and a major figure in fin-de-siècle Parisian musical life. Based on a treasure trove of private documents of Taffanel's previously unpublished letters and papers, Taffanel: Genius of the Flute recounts the rich story of his multi-faceted career as a player, conductor, composer, teacher, and leader of musical organizations. As a player, Taffanel had a rare vision of the flute as a serious, expressive instrument and his name sits at the center of the extraordinary lineage of flutists. At a crucial moment in the flute's history -- after it had been completely remodeled by Theobald Boehm -- Taffanel had far-ranging influence, creating the modern French school of playing which has since been widely adopted throughout the world, and re-establishing the instrument in the mainstream of music. Taffanel was also an inspiring teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, to whom many modern flutists can trace their roots. Taffanel also pioneered a renaissance in playing and composing chamber music for wind instruments. He founded the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments) in 1879, reviving the wind ensemble music of Mozart and Beethoven, and stimulating the composition of many new works, among them Gounod's Petite symphonie. The ensemble broke the dominance of piano and strings in recital and chamber music and fostered many of the canonic works in that repertoire. Although foremost a flutist and teacher, Taffanel was also an important opera and orchestra conductor, virtually without rival in Paris. From 1890, he served as chief conductor at the Paris Opera and the Society des concerts du Conservatoire (Paris Conservatory Orchestra) - the first time a flutist, rather then a string player, had been appointed to such key positions. At the Opéra he was charged with all new productions and gave notable French premieres of various Wagner operas and Verdi's Otello. At the Société des concerts he championed contemporary French composers, particularly his great friend Saint-Saëns, and gave the world premiere of Verdi's Sacred Pieces. Beyond his work as a performer, teacher and conductor, Taffanel was a fluent composer for the flute and wind quintet, a formidable administrator of several musical organizations, and was a major personality in Parisian musical life. Blakeman expertly places Taffanel's story in the rich political and cultural backdrop of the time, evoking Conservatoire intrigues, the Société des concerts, and Taffanel's relationships with various musicians and major composers. Blakeman details the circumstances surrounding landmark commissions, performances, and repertoire, and weaves the details from Taffanel's correspondence with first-person interviews and flute lore. What emerges is a portrait of an all-round musician who was also a modest and genial man.