Errata in the solo flute part of Jules Mouquet's "La Flute de Pan" by Matt Johnston

I have always enjoyed Jules Mouquet's composition for Flute and Piano, "La Flute de Pan." Until now, the arrangement for flute and orchestra, completed by the composer in 1906 has been difficult to find. After intimately acquainting myself with the work for the past two months, I am proud to release a new edition of the work, including all the orchestral parts.

It was not my intent to change any of the material, however, as I proceeded deeper and deeper into this monumental task, I found many errors and inconsistencies. Being able to work with the original score and parts led me to discover a variety of dynamic and articulation markings missing, as well as discrepancies in the tempo markings throughout. Most notably, I believe I have discovered an error in the original flute part, in measure 20 of the first movement (three measures before rehearsal number 1). Hearing this movement, over and over, it got me thinking.... the movement is fairly repetitive with the same opening solo motive throughout the movement. Why should it be different in this one place (and only in this one place), especially since this exact same "Con brio" section is repeated later on after rehearsal number 5 with what I believe are the correct notes? Still, this suspicion would not be quite enough to warrant altering a solo flute part which we have all used for 100 years.

However, when compared with the original orchestral score, it does appear that the notes in the solo flute part are incorrect! The score reflects my suspicion, that the motive used should be consistent throughout the movement, including measure 20. That said, I also think there is another error (a missing slur) in this measure of the orchestral score. Aside from that, the original and erroneous solo flute part has simply been copied, edition after edition for decades, and I am fairly certain that we have all been playing that measure incorrectly for 100 years!

Example 1: Measure 20 is in the upper right corner, with the correct notes displayed (albeit missing a slur on the second triplet) 

mouquet1.jpg

 Example 2: The comparable passage between rehearsal number 5 & 6, also displaying the correct notes (first two measures on page)

mouquet2.jpg