On Playing the Flute

Selected Recordings

Con Spirito

Vivace

Larghetto

Selected Sheet Music

Allegro in D major

Source: IMSLP.org

Showcase Piece

Concerto in G major

Notes and Commentary

Johann Joachim Quantz was a German flutist, flute maker, and composer. He began his musical studies as a child with his uncle’s son-in-law, later going to Dresden and Vienna. He studied composition and pored over scores of the masters to adopt their style. During his tenure in Dresden, he abandoned the violin and the oboe for the flute and studied with Pierre Gabriel Buffardin. It was during this time as musician to Frederick Augustus II of Poland that he began to perform more on the instrument.

He gradually became known as the finest flautist in Europe, and toured France and England. He became a flute teacher, flute maker, and composer to Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) in 1740. He was an innovator in flute design, adding keys to the instrument to help with intonation. He often criticized Vivaldi for being too wild when he played.

Although Quantz wrote many pieces of music, mainly for the flute (including around 300 flute concertos and more than 200 sonatas), he is best known today as the author of Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (1752) (“On Playing the Flute”), a treatise on traverso flute playing. It is a valuable source of reference regarding performance practice and flute technique in the 18th century. He lived from January 30, 1697, to July 12, 1773.—Excerpted from Wikipedia

Books and Music

Selected Books

On Playing the Flute
Northeastern (2nd. ed.), 2001
Edward Reilly, trans.
$31.50 on Amazon

“Articulation, aesthetics, phrasing, ornamentation, character, tempo, practicing, accompaniment, style, notation, how to give a concert, how to breathe when you’re nervous, how to play in an orchestra, … it’s all here. This book from 1752 covers the art of being a musician, not just a flute player.”—Bradley Lehman on Amazon

Selected Music

Flute Concertos (1997), 1 CD

Flute Sonatas (1997), 1 CD

King’s Flute Master (2012), 1 CD

More Johann Joachim Quantz music

Complete Works

Quant’s compositions number in the many hundreds. Access the complete list.

Selected flute sonatas
QV 1: 8 – Flute Sonata No. 312 in C major
QV 1: 9 – Flute Sonata No. 95 in C major
QV 1: 10 – Flute Sonata No. 332 in C major
QV 1: 11 – Flute Sonata No. 319 in C major
QV 1: 12 – Flute Sonata No. 268 in C major
QV 1: 13 – Flute Sonata No. 298 in C major
QV 1: 14 – Flute Sonata No. 305 in C minor
Selected trio sonatas
QV 2: 1 – Sonata for flute, violin (flute) & continuo Op. 3 No. 3 in C major
QV 2: 2 – Sonata for flute, recorder & continuo in C major
QV 2: 3 – Sonata for 2 flutes & continuo in C minor
QV 2: 4 – Sonata for flute, viola d’amore & continuo in C minor
QV 2: 5 – Sonata for flute, oboe & continuo in C minor
QV 2: 6 – Sonata for 2 flutes & continuo Op. 3 No. 2 in D major
QV 2: 7 – Sonata for 2 flutes & continuo in D major
QV 2: 8 – Sonata for 2 flutes & continuo in D major
QV 2: 9 – Sonata for flute, violin & continuo in D major
QV 2:10 – Sonata for flute, violin & continuo Op. 3 No. 6 in D major
Flute concertos
QV 4:1 – Concerto No. 14 for flute in D major
QV 4:2 – Concerto No. 25 for flute in E flat major
QV 4:3 – Concerto No. 13 for flute in E minor
QV 4:4 – Concerto No. 11 for flute in G major
QV 4:5 – Concerto No. 69 for flute in G major
QV 4:6 – Concerto No. 12 for flute in A major
QV 4:7 – Concerto No. 102 for flute in B minor
Other orchestral works
QV 6:1 – Concerto No. 60 for 2 flutes in D major
QV 6:2 – Concerto for flute & violin in D major
QV 6:3 – Concerto No. 59 for flute, oboe and violin in E minor
QV 6:4 – Pastorale in G major
QV 6:5 – Concerto No. 89 for 2 flutes in G major
Arias and songs
QV 7: 1 – Aria for soprano: Sembra che il ruscelletto in D major
QV 7: 2 – Aria for soprano: Padre perdona in E flat major
QV 7: 3 – Lied: Die Wahl einer Geliebten in C major
QV 7: 4 – Lied: Die geliebte Verzweiflung in E flat major
QV 7: 5 – Lied: Die Vergötterung in G major
QV 7: 6 – Lied: An eine kleine Schöne in G major
QV 7: 7 – Lied: Das Pantheon in B flat major
Access complete list.