The Thieving Magpie Overture by Rossini, arranged by Zoë Booth for four or more flutes/flute choir

The Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was an exceptional musical talent. He wrote at a terrific pace, achieving his first success with opera at La Scala when he was only twenty years old, and many other were to follow. At age 37 Rossini abruptly retired from composing for the opera, living the last thirty years of his life in comparative silence, producing only a handful of pieces for voices and piano.

Rossini’s Overture to ‘The Thieving Magpie’ has been arranged for flute choir into a shortened version suitable for concert performance. In three short sections the composer’s famous tunes are shared amongst all players, most prominently between flutes one and two.

4-5mins approx

Elementary to advanced

Contents

One score and the following separate parts:

Piccolo (optional)

Flute 1

Flute 2

Flute 3

Flute 4

Alto Flute (optional)

Bass Flute (optional)

Bb Clarinet (optional)

Reviews

Review from Stephen, adult player (and proud owner of Rossini’s Thieving Magpie Overture and Delibes’ Flute Duet)

I belong to a group of six flute players who meet every couple of weeks in term time. We have a piccolo player, an alto flute player, and a bass but not everyone can make every meeting! This means that we need music that is adaptable to our forces on any particular occasion, and this is where Pipeblower Publishing comes in! We find that Pipeblower music for four flutes/flute choir is ideal for our purposes. We can always find a satisfactory combination of parts and it would be just as suitable were the size of the group to increase, which it may well do. The arrangements sound good and we have fun! So, thank you, Pipeblower Publishing!