About Flute Sonatas （Road to Bach）

The earliest flute sonatas date from the early Italian Baroque period. They are two-voice instrumental pieces called sonatas or canzonas. However, there was no instrumental specification at that time yet, and the flute was one of the many options such as violin, cornet, recorder, and flute. So when was the flute first designated? Here I would like to consider a work for flute and basso continuo.

Arcangelo Corelli published his collection of violin sonatas, Op. 5 (Fig. 1), in Rome in 1700. This collection was continually reprinted throughout Europe. Flute arrangements of the works were also published in various parts of the world. These were useful to many flutists of the time, who did not yet have much repertoire.

The other hand, the earliest published flute sonata, is the work by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Op. 1 (Fig. 2) in 1707. Here, the flute is designated for the first time as a performing instrument. However, at the same time the score said that the piece can also be played by recorder and oboe by transposing . In Couperin’s 1722 “Concerts royaux” there is no instrument designation, but it is likely that it was often played on the flute as well, given its range (Fig. 3). Händel’s Collection of Solo Sonatas, Op. 1 (Fig. 4), published in 1729, is another very early flute sonatas. Michel Blavet published his Collection of Six Sonatas for Flute and basso continuo, Op. 2 (Fig. 5) in 1732.

In Germany, somewhat later, Georg PhilippTelemann, Johann Joachim Quantz, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and others began composing flute sonatas en masse, marking the heyday of flute music.

The best of Bach’s flute sonatas is probably the Sonata in B minor with harpsichord obbligato (BWV 1030). Other works of this kind by Bach include six for violin and three for viola da gamba. On the other hand, there are three sonatas in E minor (Fig. 6), E major (Fig. 7), and C major, which were composed for flute and basso continuo, the usual form of the time. They continue to be performed today as the pinnacle of flute musics too.

The above is an overview of the history of sonatas written for the flute and basso continuo, but it is well known that many other flute works were written in the Baroque period in the form of duets, trio sonatas, quartets, and concertos. Finally, I will put down my pen by introducing my own “Flute Sonata in G major”, which I composed myself about 50 years ago. #baroque #flutesonata #片山俊幸