Allegro alla Spagnuola

The Italian Giulio Briccialdi was taught to play the flute chiefly by his father. His virtuoso career began at an early age and he was appointed as flute teacher to the Count of Syracuse in Sicily. On numerous tours his playing drew enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics alike: ‘The only really good flute-player that I have ever seen’, wrote Rockstro in A Treatise on the Flute. In 1871 Briccialdi was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire in Florence. Having been introduced to the newly constructed cylindrical flute by Theobald Böhm in 1847, he added some minor further modifications of his own. His Bb thumb key was a useful addition to the original Böhm system subsequently known in the history of flute making as the ‘Biccialdi thumb key’. As a composer, apart from a single opera he mainly wrote pieces for the flute in the fashion of the time: arrangements, sets of variations and virtuoso showpieces a large number of which were published by Schott. In the original publication of Allegro alla Spagnuola op. 69 bars 23 to 41 were omitted from the score and only printed in the accompanying flute part. For this new edition the missing piano accompaniment has been reconstructed using the material available. Plate no. 12098 / published in 1853.