String Quartets that Adapt to Flute

July 10, 2016 at 04:20 PM · One thing you might want to consider is that Mozart actually wrote a series of flute quartets. They are beautiful pieces. I do not have any experience playing quartets with a flutist, but I do not see any obvious reason why a flutist could not play a second violin part, as long as you realize that the flutist has to transcribe any notes below middle C up an octave and cannot play double stops.

July 10, 2016 at 04:50 PM · Pizzicato passages might sound funny. Fancy bowing techniques are adaptable I think.

July 10, 2016 at 05:35 PM · Consider Mozart's oboe quartet and also one written by Georg Druschetzky

There are also some arrangement (Haydn?!) for flute and string quartet (trio). IMSLP is your best bet ( http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:CategoryWalker/For_4_players**Quartets/)

or

(http://imslp.org/index.php?title=Category:Quartets&transclude=Template:Catintro)

Typical challenge with flute joining strings is in its timbre and power; it takes an excellent flute player to really sound good.

Baroque flute sounds way better than metal one, especially when we use gut strings!

July 11, 2016 at 12:03 AM · Thanks guys. I am already familiar with the well known flute quartets of Mozart and Devienne, having performed some of these in the past.

I hadn't considered searching by "flute plus string trio," so I will check that out.

I appreciate the suggestion of the oboe quartet -- I will certainly look at that, and for other oboe quartets. (Edit: That Mozart Oboe Quartet is great. The oboe has the same basic range as the flute.)

I'm generally familiar with the issues involved in the adaptation. Transposing low notes up an octave is fine, although not always musically desirable. Even the notes that do not require transposition (the lowest octave on the flute) can lack power. Fortunately the flute player that I'll be working with is very good.

I would still appreciate any suggestions of string quartets that any of y'all have played successfully with a flute replacing one of the violins. The literature of the string quartet is vast, but it's surprisingly hard to find people who have made the adaptation.

July 11, 2016 at 05:01 PM · Sound-wise, one may prefer the flute to replace the first violin.

July 11, 2016 at 07:10 PM · At one chamber music workshop, we attempted a Mozart viola quintet (K516, I think) with flute playing the Violin 1 part.

July 11, 2016 at 09:05 PM · Perhaps you could try Gershwin's Lullaby with the 1st violin part played by the flute. I'm not sure though if the flute can play some of the lower notes of that part.

July 12, 2016 at 01:48 AM · Adrian, yes, in most "flute quartets" the flute has a decidedly first-violin role.

July 12, 2016 at 03:29 PM · Don't swap the flute in for 2nd violin; the register is all wrong. If you're going to swap in flute, it needs to be on first violin. I expect this would work much better on gig arrangements than on actual quartets, since string quartet first violin parts tend to be idiomatically quite violinistic, and it sounds ridiculous to be jumping up and down in octave every time there is a G string passage. Fortunately there are loads of gig arrangements for string quartet and some of them are quite nice.

July 12, 2016 at 03:29 PM · double post sorry

July 12, 2016 at 07:18 PM · Mary Ellen if there are any specific gig arrangements for string quartet that you have found successful with a flute replacing the first violin, that would be great. We don't want to be playing show tunes though. We want to play Haydn and Beethoven and stuff like that. :) Probably what I will have to do is buy one of those door-stop editions of quartet scores and just start reading. Maybe on the treadmill while listening to them. Oh boy, that actually sounds pretty fun.

July 14, 2016 at 03:09 AM · I don't think I've ever swapped in flute for 1st violin but if I were going to, I would try Cleo Aufderhaar's wedding arrangements. Another thing to look at is the Music for Four series (there is also Music for Three) which are intended to be used by a variety of instruments.

July 14, 2016 at 06:15 AM · Depending on the occasion/audience, the 'Haydn Serenade' would probably work quite well - melody with pizz. accompaniment (not dissimilar in character to the second movement of Mozart's Flute Quartet in D). The piece used to be known as Haydn's 'Serenade' quartet Op3 no 5?, but is now believed to be by Hofstetter. (You probably know all this...). From memory the rest of the quartet might work quite well too - the first violin part is not particularly violinistic as I recall. Pleasant, lightweight fare.

July 14, 2016 at 11:32 PM · "I would still appreciate any suggestions of string quartets that any of y'all have played successfully with a flute replacing one of the violins"

now that's really not queen english, Paul. y'all is a term used more by popeye (i.e. I y'am what I y'am), than here. Seriously. You must be from asia, although you probably grew up in the US, right?

apart from the vegatable (yam) it's hard to understand your writings, because of slack.