Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock” transcribed for Alto Flute by Noteworthy Sheet Music

SOMERVILLE, Mass. - Jan. 25, 2016 - PRLog -- Noteworthy Sheet Music, LLC (NSM) is an online sheet music publishing enterprise with a catalog of ~150 editions, most of which are unavailable from other sources.  NSM specializes in, but is not limited to, sheet music for flute and alto flute.  They offer original contemporary works by distinguished American composers, facsimile editions of rare historical scores, and unique transcriptions of pieces from the classical repertoire.  Selected NSM publications are offered as professionally-printed hard copy editions, and most of NSM’s catalog listings are available as convenient pdf downloads from the NSM website.  Visit www.NoteworthySheetMusic.com for additional information about the new release mentioned below and other NSM editions.  New sheet music selections are uploaded often, along with preview pages, contributing composer biographies, useful links, reviews and articles.

Franz Schubert completed Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Op.129 (The Shepherd on the Rock) in October 1828, only weeks before he died at age 31.  The song, which features clarinet in addition to voice, with piano, was dedicated to Anna Milder-Hauptmann, one of the leading German sopranos of her day, who gave the premiere in 1830.  The music is a setting for a romantic text from the poem The Alpine Shepherd by Wilhelm Müller, along with additional material recently discovered to have been by Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (previously thought to have been by Wilhelmina Helmina von Chézy). (information taken from Peter H. Bloom’s preface to the edition)

Noteworthy Sheet Music published Peter H. Bloom’s transcription of the Schubert Op.129 clarinet obbligato for alto flute in 2012, several years after its premiere performance with D'Anna Fortunato (Mezzo-Soprano), Peter H. Bloom (Alto Flute), and Mary Jane Rupert (Piano) during a concert at the Gibson Theatre in Elmira, NY, on November 3, 2009, as part of the Elmira College Encore Series.  The group has performed this work many times since, to great acclaim.

Mr. Bloom wrote of his transcription, in part: “In terms of color, nuance, expression, dynamics, and tessitura the obbligato works exquisitely on the alto flute.  Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) designed our first modern alto flute in 1847.  Had Schubert (born in 1797) survived to hear it, I have no doubt that he would have made the alto flute an essential part of his armory of orchestration.”

NSM founder and flutist Carol A. Vater had performed Der Hirt auf dem Felsen in an alternate version for flute, clarinet, and piano, but realized recently that the voice part would work far better on alto flute than on flute.  So she created a new alto flute transcription which is a simple transposition of the voice part requiring no octave changes; the part falls naturally and beautifully within the alto flute range.  This new alto flute part is to be played in an entirely instrumental version of Der Hirt auf dem Felsen for alto flute, clarinet (or alto flute), and piano.  To quote Mr. Bloom, this addition to NSM’s catalog makes for “excellent concert material as well as the perfect pedagogical device, in the tradition of Moyse’s ‘Tone Development Through Interpretation’ for broadening the sonic and interpretive palette of the alto flutist”.

Please view the NSM listing of Ms. Vater’s voice-to-alto flute transcription of Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen at https://www.noteworthysheetmusic.com/score-descriptions/5-transcriptions-alto-flute/361-schubert-der-hirt-auf-dem-felsen-voice-trans-for-alto-flute.

The NSM listing of Mr. Bloom’s alto flute transcription of the clarinet obbligato may be found at https://www.noteworthysheetmusic.com/score-descriptions/5-transcriptions-alto-flute/77-schubert-der-hirt-auf-dem-felsen-alto-flute