Caprice No. 24 is the final piece in Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, a famous collection of études for solo violin composed between 1802 and 1817. This last piece is in the key of A minor, and consists of a theme, 11 variations, and a finale. It is widely considered one of the most difficult pieces ever written for solo violin ..read more

This bourrée is the fourth movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708 ..read more

It is unknown when exactly Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Suite for Orchestra No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067. It is a vibrant and fast-paced work, leaning towards the entertainment side of pure music. This suite is one of four such works that the composer wrote in his lifetime. Bach was not even slightly opposed to writing music for more money or power, but was less forthcoming with light music; he did not like it much. All of the lighter music he wrote was never published, including these overtures. These works were good for business, but Bach was more comfortable writing church music or works f ..read more

The great collector Francis O'Neill learned this tune from County Mayo piper James O'Brien, who visited Chicago (where O'Neill worked as a police officer) in 1876. He is described as [...] a neat, tasty Irish piper of the Connacht school of close players, and though his Union pipes were small, they were sweet and musical... One of his peculiarities—and an unpleasant one, occasionally—was a habit of stopping the music in order to indulge in conversation. He could not be induced to play a tune in full, when under the influence of stimulants, as his loquacity was uncontrollable, and he never hesi ..read more

This 3/8-time Allegro is the third movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708 ..read more

This Andante is the opening movement of the second of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736 ..read more

The first known appearance of this minor-mode jig is in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, published in Boston in 1883 ..read more

This melodious piece will make you an expert in D minor scales and arpeggios! It is taken from the first book of Progress in Flute Playing, published in the 1880s by Italian composer Ernesto Köhler. The étude No. 7 can be roughly divided into three parts: the exposition of the main theme, a more relaxed central section in D major, and a final restatement of the initial theme ..read more

This ethereal Adagio is the second movement of a sonata for 3 flutes in G major by the German Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708 ..read more

This famous piece was traditionally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, as it appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, a notebook which Bach offered to his wife Anna Magdalena in 1725 and which was to be filled with favorite selections of the members of the Bach family. However, recent research has concluded that this minuet (sometimes referred to as “BWV Anhang 114”) was probably composed by Christian Petzold, a German composer and organist contemporary with Bach. As you will see, the score contains some suggestions for realizing ornaments in accordance with Baroque performance practice ..read more