Program

Cécile Chaminade:  Concertino Op. 107 for flute and piano

Marin Marais:  selections from Les Folies d’Espagne for flute alone 

Francis Poulenc:  Sonata for Flute and Piano

Franz and Karl Doppler:  Rigoletto Fantasy Op. 38 for two flutes and piano 
​
Franz Doppler:  Andante and Rondo Op. 25 for two flutes and piano 
Date: March 18, 2024.
​Time: 7:30pm
Location: Steinway Piano Gallery - St. Louis
Address: 12033 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Admission: Free

Concert Artist
Cécile Chaminade:  Concertino Op. 107 for flute and piano
Cecile Chaminade was born into an affluent family in Paris, France in 1857. She lived to be 86 and died in Monte Carlo in 1944. Chaminade showed promise of becoming a talented pianist from a young age. However, Chaminade’s father forbade Chaminade to attend Paris Conservatory because of her class. Instead he paid for private violin, piano, and composition lessons with the best teachers from Paris Conservatory. By the 1880’s Chaminade’s career as a composer and pianist was well established. She often
performed her own compositions and toured throughout France many times. She made her debut in the United States in 1908. For many years her music was favored among American music lovers, but most of her work fell into obscurity during the second half of the 20th century. One of her most popular compositions during her lifetime which remains so today is the Flute Concertino in D major. Chaminade was commissioned to write the Concertino by the Paris Conservatory in 1902 for the flute students’ exam piece. She originally wrote the piece for flute and piano, but later arranged it for flute and orchestra.


Marin Marais:  selections from Les Folies d’Espagne for flute alone 
Marin Marais was born in 1656 and lived in France throughout his life. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully and bass viol with Monsieur de Saint-Colombe, a renowned gambist of the day. Marais was the first composer to write extensively for the viol. His works included five books for the viol, chamber trios for flute, violin, and viol, four operas, and two sacred works
which have both been lost. In 1676, Marais was appointed to the court of Versailles where he remained as a viol performer
and composer until 1725. He was also married in 1676, to a Parisian woman named Catherine d’ Amicourt. Together they
had 19 children. Les Foiles d’ Espagne was written sometime around 1701 and was a collection of 32 variations for one and two viols. The work is significant because of the bass line that Marais uses as the foundation for his variations. The bass line was taken from an old European musical phrase of 8 bars. It was first written down by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Since then the bass line has been used in works by famous composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Liszt, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff! Les Foiles d’ Espagne has since been arranged for many other instruments.


Franz and Karl Doppler:  Rigoletto Fantasy Op. 38 for two flutes and piano 
Franz Doppler:  Andante and Rondo Op. 25 for two flutes and piano
Franz (1821-1883) and Karl Doppler (1825-1900) were born in Lemberg of the Austrian Empire, a city that was once a part of Poland and is now known as Lviv, Ukraine. Both Doppler brothers received flute lessons from their father, an oboist. By the time they were young teenagers they began performing together as a duo. They concertized extensively throughout Europe and were
members of the orchestra at the German Theatre in Budapest from 1838, the Hungarian National Theatre in 1841, and in 1853 were founding members of the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Franz composed seven operas, fifteen ballets, and many works for flute. He was also a talented orchestrator and is best known for his orchestration of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. Franz was also a conductor of the Vienna Court Opera and a flute professor at Vienna Conservatory.

Karl, a left - handed flute player, also composed operas as well as a collection of Hungarian folk dances, incidental music, and flute music. He held positions as conductor at the Theater of Budapest and then for the court chapel in Stuttgart from 18650 until 1898.
Rigoberto Fantasy, premiered by the brothers during a tour in the mid-1850’s is based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. It was written by both brothers as a duo concerto with piano. Andante and Rondo, composed by Franz Doppler, was also written around 1870 for two flutes and piano.