TWENTIETH-CENTURY WORKS FOR FLUTE AND PIANO AND UNACCOMPANIED FLUTE MOST FREQUENTLY SELECTED TO BE PERFORMED ON THE FINAL ROUND OF THE NATIONAL FLUTE ASSOCIATION’S YOUNG ARTIST COMPETITIONS FROM 1985-2004

Abstract

Inspired by the desire to learn which works from the twentieth century are most valued by flutists, I completed a study based on twenty years of final-round repertoire from the prestigious Young Artist Competitions held annually by the National Flute Association. Judged by prominent professional flutists, conductors, composers, and educators, the finalists of this competition are of high caliber and usually have gone on to hold positions in orchestras, bands, and universities, and to establish careers as concert and recording artists. Many younger flutists emulate the winners of this competition in an effort to attain higher levels of technical ability and musicality, and the finalists seem to have become role models. Therefore, the repertoire that is selected to be performed in the final round of the competition may be considered the standard literature of flute competitions.

The works chosen to be performed with the greatest frequency in the final round of the competition will be of value to many ambitious flutists as it creates a notable list of twentieth-century masterworks for the flute. This dissertation presents the works for flute and piano, as well as for unaccompanied flute, from this period, that were performed with the greatest frequency over the twenty-year period from 1985 through 2004. In alphabetical order by composer, these works are Samuel Barber: Canzone, Luciano Berio: Sequenza, Eldin Burton: Sonatina, Elliot Carter: Scrivo in Vento, Alfredo Casella: Sicilienne et Burlesque, Michael Colquhoun: Charanga, Henri Dutilleux: Sonatine, Lukas Foss: Three American Pieces, Kazuo Fukushima: Mei, Philippe Gaubert: Nocturne et Allegro Scherzando, André Jolivet: Chant de linos, André Jolivet: Cinq Incantations, Sigfried Karg-Elert: Sonata Appassionata, Opus 140, Lowell Liebermann: Sonata, Opus 23, Frank Martin: Ballade, Olivier Messiaen: Le Merle Noir, Mike Mower: Sonata Latino, Robert Muczynski: Sonata, Opus 14, Francis Poulenc: Sonata, Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata in D Major, Opus 94, Pierre Sancan: Sonatine, Tōru Takemitsu: Voice, and Edgard Varèse: Density 21.5.