20th century
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Kay Ulysses
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
Copland, Aaron
Corigliano, John
Cortese, Luigi
Currier, Sebastian
Dahl, Walter Ingolf Marcus
Damase, Jean-Michel
Davidovsky, Mario
De Lorenzo, Leonardo
Debussy, Claude
Del Tredici, David
DeLaney, Charles Oliver
Delerue, Georges
Denisov, Edison
Dèsbriere, Jacques
Dick, Robert
Dinicu, Grigoraș
Dodgson, Stephen
Dohnányi, Ernő
Dubois, Pierre Max
Dukas, Paul
Durey, Louis
Dutilleux, Henri
Enescu, George
Farkas, Ferenc
Feld, Jindřich
Ferroud, Pierre-Octave
Flothuis, Marius
Folio, Cynthia
Foote, Arthur
Foss, Lukas
Françaix, Jean
Fukushima, Kazuo
Gade, Jacob
Gál, Hans
Gaubert, Philippe
Genzmer, Harald
George, Thom Ritter
Ghidoni, Armando
Gieseking, Walter
Glass, Philip
Glière, Reinhold
Golovin, Andrei
Gordeli, Otar
Grier, Lita
Griffes, Charles Tomlinson
Grinblat, Romuald
Grovlez, Gabriel
Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo
Gubajdulina, Sofia
Hahn, Reynaldo
Hailstork, Adolphus
Halphen, Fernand
Hanson, Howard Harold
Harberg, Amanda
Harbison, John
Harsányi, Tibor
Harty, Hamilton
Heiss, John
Heith, David
Henze, Hans-Werner
Higdon, Jennifer
Hindemith, Paul
Holliger, Heinz
Holmboe, Vagn
Honegger, Arthur
Hoover, Katherine
Hosokawa, Toshio
Hovhaness, Alan
Hüe, Georges Adolphe
Hurel, Philippe
Ibert, Jacques
Ichiyanagi, Toshi
Ittzés, Gergely
Ives, Charles
Jacob, Gordon
James, Bob
Jemnitz, Sándor
Jirák, Karel Boleslav
Jóhannsson, Magnús Blöndal
Jolivet, André
Jongen, Joseph
Karg-Elert, Sigfrid
Kay, Ulysses
Kelterborn, Rudolf
Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis
Kennan, Kent Wheeler
Kennedy, Martin
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Khachaturian, Aram
Kocsár, Miklós
Kodaly, Zoltan
Koechlin, Charles
Kornauth, Egon
Kraft, Leo
Krzywicki, Jan
Kupferman, Meyer
La Montaine, John
Lauber, Joseph
Lavista, Mario
Lee, Eugene
Leeuwen, Ary van
Levinson, Gerald
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Mack, Dieter
Mahler, Gustav
Maresz, Yan
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Martinů, Bohuslav
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Nielsen, Carl
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Offermans, Wil
Olsen, Carl Gustav Sparre
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Perle, George
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Piazzolla, Astor
Piston, Walter
Poulenc, Francis
Prokofiev, Sergey
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Rivier, Jean
Rodrigo, Joaquin
Rota, Nino
Rotaru, Doina
Rouse, Christopher
Roussel, Albert
Rutter, John
Saariaho, Kaija
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Schmidt, Ole
Schocker, Gary
Schulhoff, Erwin
Schwantner, Joseph
Sciarrino, Salvatore
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Sibelius, Jean
Smit, Leo
Tailleferre, Germaine
Takemitsu, Tōru
Taktakishvili, Otar
Tansman, Alexandre
Tomasi, Henri
Tower, Joan
Uébayashi, Yuko
Varèse, Edgar
Vasks, Pēteris
Weigl, Vally
Weinberg, Mieczysław
Wilder, Alec
Williams, Ralph Vaughan
Yi, Chen
Yun, Isang
Zgraja, Krystof
Prelude for Unaccompanied Flute
Ulysses Kay: Prelude for Unaccompanied Flute was written in 1943. The piece is dedicated to Martin Heylman, a flutist who played with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony at that time.
Kay originally conceived the Prelude as an etude to help flutists develop proper breathing techniques and stamina. Its metronome marking of 50 BPM creates demanding phrases that test a performer's breath control.
In 1943, Ulysses Kay was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was stationed at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, as a member of the Navy Band. There, he learned to play the flute and piccolo. His first-hand experience learning the instrument that year directly informed the technical challenges and "ruminative" character of the Prelude. 1943 marked a prolific "fruitful period" for Kay despite the war. He had recently completed studies with Paul Hindemith at Yale (1941–1942), and the Prelude reflects Hindemith’s influence through its lean counterpoint and organized tonal shifts.
Ulysses Kay (1917–1995) was an African American composer of the mid-20th century, associated with the neoclassical movement and recognized for his sophisticated orchestral and choral works.
Born in Tucson, Arizona, he grew up in a musically enriched environment. His uncle was the legendary jazz cornetist King Oliver. While Oliver encouraged his nephew's musical pursuits, he specifically steered him toward formal classical training rather than jazz, a distinction that defined Kay’s professional identity.
Kay began piano lessons at age six and later took up the violin and saxophone. He earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Arizona and received a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music (1940), where he studied with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. He engaged in pivotal summer studies at Tanglewood and later at Yale University (1941–1942) under Paul Hindemith. Hindemith’s focus on objective craft and contrapuntal clarity became the hallmark of Kay’s mature style.
During World War II (1942–1946), he served in the U.S. Navy Band, where he learned to play the flute and piccolo. He was the first African American to win the Prix de Rome (twice, in 1949 and 1951) and received a Fulbright Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He served as a professor at Lehman College (CUNY) from 1968 until his retirement in 1988.
His works are characterized by lyricism, tonal centricity, and intricate counterpoint, often avoiding explicit folk or jazz idioms in favor of a universal, modernist language.