Duets for Flute and Alto Flute

The violin/viola duo repertoire provides a rich source of music for flute players.

Alessandro Rolla (1757 – 1841) and Louis Spohr (1784 – 1859) were among the leading violin and viola virtuosos of their time, and they were also prolific composers for their instruments.
Their compositions gave the viola equal significance to the violin, requiring excellent technical mastery and depth of sound. This makes them particularly rewarding for players of the Alto Flute, who can develop their skills considerably with this repertoire.

Alessandro Rolla was also the concertmaster and assistant conductor of La Scala, Milan as well as professor of violin and viola at the Milan Conservatorium.
He became known throughout Europe as the teacher of a whole generation of famous string players, including the young Niccolo Paganini.
As the most brilliant violist of his time he succeeded in changing the viola’s image as a purely accompanying instrument, in particular through his virtuosic and expressive compositions for it.

Louis Spohr was also highly regarded during his lifetime as a performer, conductor, composer and teacher of violin and viola.
His compositions, which include 10 symphonies, 10 operas and numerous chamber music works, span the transition between Classical and Romantic music.

In my arrangements of the violin/viola duets by the above composers it was often necessary to transpose these compositions to higher keys.
Although the alto flute is a fifth lower than the flute it does not have the far-reaching low register of the viola.
The main challenge however, particularly for Alto Flute players, is the lack of breathing spaces in the long phrases of these string parts. I have marked suggestions for breaths as well as possibilities of deleting a short note here and there for this purpose.

These are small compromises in view of the gain to our flute repertoire of these beautifully crafted and sonorous works.