Six Concertos for two Flutes Book 2 /4-6 (Playing Score)

Monteclair Six Concertos for two Flutes Book 2 /4-6 (Playing Score)

Michel Pinolet de Montéclair was the son of a weaver with a large family.  He was born on December 4, 1667, in Andelot in the Haute-Marne Department of France.  As a boy he entered the famous Song School of Langres Cathedral, where he received a sound education.  When scarcely 20 years old he moved to Paris.  From here he travelled to Italy in the service of the Prince of Vaudemont.  However he then settled in Paris permanently, giving regular music lessons and working as contrabass player in the opera orchestra.  Shortly after being pensioned from these official posts he died on September 27, 1737, in a villa at Saint-Denis on the Seine, esteemed by his contemporaries as a distinguished musician and honoured as a man of high moral qualities.
The six two-part concertos without bass which Montéclair published himself with no indication of year belong to the so-called "utility music", which offers to players and audience alike an agreeable but well-constructed art of "entertainment" in the best sense.  The composer's note reads:

"Noise does not produce pleasant music; only tuneful melody, good modulation, natural harmony - in short - beautiful sound touches the heart."

To some extent these suites have a national colouration through the contrast of compositions in "goût Francois" and "goût Italien".  They make no great demands on playing technique and are suitable also for amateurs, particularly on account of the optional variable settings with flutes, violins, violas "et autres instruments", as the title expressly indicates.