Six Sonatas, Op. 2: Book 1 (Nos. 1-3): Flute, Solo with Piano, Book

Michel Blavet (1700-1768) composed and published his Six Sonatas, Op. 2, originally entitled Sonates mêlées de pièces pour la flûte traversière avec la basse, in 1732, issuing the collection in Paris through the composer himself, Boivin, and Le Clerc and dedicating it to the Duchesse de Bouillon, née Princesse de Lorraine. Blavet was among the foremost French flutists of the eighteenth century, praised by such contemporaries as Johann Joachim Quantz and Voltaire, sought unsuccessfully by Frederick the Great, and eventually principal flutist at the Paris Opéra. The sonatas reflect his intimate knowledge of the transverse flute, combining the increasingly influential Italian sonata manner with the French suite tradition: Italianate Adagios, Allegros, and Prestos alternate with allemandes, gavottes, rondeaux, tambourins, and descriptive character pieces. The distinguished French flutist Louis Fleury (1878-1926), an important advocate of both early and contemporary flute music, later edited the sonatas for modern flute and piano. His edition was produced in stages between 1908 and 1913. Fleury adapted Blavet's figured-bass accompaniment to the modern piano and made editorial accommodations for the post-Boehm-system flute, practices characteristic of the early twentieth-century revival of Baroque music but predating modern historically informed performance conventions. Today, the Six Sonatas, Op. 2 remain among Blavet's most important surviving works and retain a respected place in the Baroque flute repertoire, performed both in historically informed versions with continuo and through modern-instrument editions. Fleury's flute-and-piano edition is consequently of particular historical interest as evidence of the early twentieth-century rediscovery of eighteenth-century French flute literature and remains useful for modern flutists despite its editorial departures from Blavet's original notation. Reprint edition of Book 1 (Nos. 1-3) of Fleury's edition. Book 2 (Nos. 4-6) is also available from the publisher (M399191).