A flute concerto is a piece written for a solo flute and an orchestral accompaniment. Flute concertos were first written during the Baroque period, and they are still popular among composers today. In most cases, a flute concerto is composed of three or four movements, with at least one slow movement. The flute part is usually written in contrast to the orchestra, with the solo instrument’s and orchestra’s different sounds forming a dialogue in which the flute may move with or against the accompaniment.
The flute belongs to the woodwind family of instruments. The sound is produced by the flow of air through an opening in the instrument, which causes air vibrations in the opening. The sound contrasts with that of a reed instrument like the oboe, which has a sharper sound. Some flutes are designed to be blown from one end only, but the Western concert flute is blown through an opening in the side of the flute by the flautist.
Many flute concertos were composed during the Baroque period, and works by composers such as Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Joachim Quantz are still performed today. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who composed flute music for Frederick the Great of Germany, composed a number of flute concertos at the end of the Baroque Period. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s flute concerto No. 1 in G major is one of the most well-known flute concertos from the classical period. The Adagio second movement of this work, which consists of three movements, gives full rein to the flute’s expressive qualities. Mozart’s flute concerto No. 2 in D major was originally written for the oboe, but it was later adapted to be performed as a flute concerto, and it is now part of the repertoire of many modern orchestras.
Flute concertos from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries feature a wide range of styles and approaches, with movements ranging from two to five. Carl Nielsen’s flute concerto, written in 1926, is a two-movement work with the first being symphonic and the second being more dramatic. The flute interacts with other instruments in the concerto, including other woodwind instruments. Christopher Rouse composed a flute concerto in 1993 that has five movements and references to Celtic music, with an elegy as the central movement. In the twenty-first century, a flute concerto by Kalevi Aho demonstrates the flute’s range and virtuosity while maintaining the composer’s lyrical feel and atmosphere.