20th century
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Françaix Jean
Aitken, Robert
Amirov, Fikret
Amlin, Martin
Amram, David
Andriessen, Jurriaan
Arnold, Malcolm
Arrieu, Claude
Auric, Georges
Babbit, Milton
Bacchus, Peter
Bacri, Nicolas
Baker, Michael Conway
Baksa, Robert
Barber, Samuel
Barrere, Georges
Bartók, Béla Viktor János
Baton, René-Emmanuel
Beaser, Robert
Bennet, Richard Rodney
Berg, Gunnar
Berio, Luciano
Bernofsky, Lauren
Bernstein, Leonard
Bloch, Ernest
Bolling, Claude
Bon, Maarten
Bonis, Mel
Boughton, Rutland
Boulanger, Marie-Juliette
Boulez, Pierre
Bourdin, Roger
Bournonville, Armand
Bowen, Edwin York
Bozza, Eugène Joseph
Bréville, Pierre
Brings, Allen
Brotons, Salvador
Brown, Elizabeth
Brun, Georges
Burkhard, Willy
Burton, Eldin
Büsser, Henri
Camus, Pierre
Carmichael, John
Carter, Elliott
Casella, Alfredo
Chaynes, Charles
Clarke, Ian
Colgrass, Michael
Colquhoun, Michael
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Cortese, Luigi
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Dèsbriere, Jacques
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Dinicu, Grigoraș
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Dohnányi, Ernő
Dubois, Pierre Max
Dukas, Paul
Durey, Louis
Dutilleux, Henri
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Farkas, Ferenc
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Ferroud, Pierre-Octave
Flothuis, Marius
Folio, Cynthia
Foote, Arthur
Foss, Lukas
Françaix, Jean
Fukushima, Kazuo
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Gál, Hans
Gaubert, Philippe
Genzmer, Harald
George, Thom Ritter
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Gieseking, Walter
Glass, Philip
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Grier, Lita
Griffes, Charles Tomlinson
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Grovlez, Gabriel
Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo
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Heiss, John
Heith, David
Henze, Hans-Werner
Higdon, Jennifer
Hindemith, Paul
Holliger, Heinz
Holmboe, Vagn
Honegger, Arthur
Hoover, Katherine
Hosokawa, Toshio
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Hüe, Georges Adolphe
Hurel, Philippe
Ibert, Jacques
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Ives, Charles
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Jongen, Joseph
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Kelterborn, Rudolf
Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis
Kennan, Kent Wheeler
Kennedy, Martin
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Khachaturian, Aram
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Kodaly, Zoltan
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Kornauth, Egon
Kraft, Leo
Krzywicki, Jan
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Lauber, Joseph
Lavista, Mario
Lee, Eugene
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Levinson, Gerald
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Mahler, Gustav
Maresz, Yan
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Smit, Leo
Tailleferre, Germaine
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Tomasi, Henri
Tower, Joan
Uébayashi, Yuko
Varèse, Edgar
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Weigl, Vally
Weinberg, Mieczysław
Wilder, Alec
Williams, Ralph Vaughan
Yi, Chen
Yun, Isang
Zgraja, Krystof
Suite for flute solo
Suite for flute solo
Jean Françaix: Suite for flute solo was written in 1958 and dedicated to Roger Bourdin, a prominent French flautist and professor at the Versailles Conservatory known for his technical brilliance and "vocal" playing style. It was premiered by Bourdin in 1958 in Paris.
The work is notable for its implied polyphony, where a single flute line suggests a multi-voice harmonic structure through wide interval leaps and rapid registers shifts, a technique famously utilized by J.S. Bach in his Partita in A minor.
The Suite combines a collection of 5 sophisticated French dances, and adds to the tradition of solo flute compositions of Baroque era.
In 1958, the French musical scene was heavily influenced by the Darmstadt School and the serialism of Pierre Boulez. Françaix remained a steadfast anti-modernist, continuing to write music that was "accessible, transparent, and joyful." This Suite serves as a neoclassical alternative to the more dissonant solo works being produced at the time (such as Berio’s Sequenza I, composed the same year). Around that time, Françaix was at the height of his international career, traveling frequently as a concert pianist. His writing during this year reflects a "theatricality" influenced by his prolific work in film and ballet scores.
Françaix Jean
Jean Françaix (1912-1997) was a prolific French composer, pianist, and orchestrator known for maintaining the ideals of French Neoclassicism throughout the 20th century.
Born in Le Mans, France, Françaix was raised in a highly professional musical environment. His father was the director of the Le Mans Conservatory, and his mother was a noted singing teacher and founder of a professional choir.
He began composing at age six, his talent was so evident that the famous composer Maurice Ravel encouraged his parents, famously writing to them: "Among the child’s gifts I observe above all the most fruitful an artist can possess, that of curiosity."
The most defining aspect of his education was his study with the legendary Nadia Boulanger, who considered him one of her most gifted pupils. Under her tutelage, he developed a flawless technique and a lifelong devotion to the music of Mozart and Stravinsky.
Françaix remained remarkably consistent in his style. While his contemporaries explored atonality, he championed tonality and the "esprit gaulois" (Gallic wit). He once described his goal as writing music that "aims to please."
Françaix curiosity, ability to explore and constantly move forward resulted in over 200 works from which the most profound work is L'Apocalypse de St Jean, the "fantastic oratorio" which was written with sense of approaching catastrophe (1939) and use of electric guitar which may reflect Françaix's idea of Hell. Besides many compositions in neo-Classical style Françaix is also known for his orchestration of works by Chopin, Mozart, Schubert etc.