Music by
DANIEL DORFF

August Idyll for solo Flute

 

Duration: c. 4'

DETAILS
AVAILABLE from your favorite sheet music dealer, or direct from Presser.
RECORDED on Cantilena Records by Laurel Zucker.
RECORDED (private label) by Kristen Stoner.
RECORDED (private label) by Andrea Ceccamori.
YOUTUBE of Kristen Stoner's recording.
Texas UIL Prescribed Music List for all-state audition repertoire.

PROGRAM NOTES
In 2005, I was distracted by many simultaneous "real life" challenges; I went over a year without focus or momentum for composing, even with an impending deadline for a piano concerto to be premiered in Carnegie Hall.

That summer's NFA convention was a great reset, and a few weeks afterward I visited a friend out in the country surrounded by woods, wild animals wandering in the yard, bluebirds, and hummingbirds. On the first morning, I closed my eyes and a theme came into my head that I particularly liked. There was no music paper handy so I started scribbling on scrap paper. This surprise kept progressing and developing, and within a few hours I had "received" this reawakening gift of a completed new solo flute piece. It felt like merely taking dictation rather than composing.

Since I was in an idyllic setting (and the opening sounds somewhat like Grieg), and it was August, August Idyll seemed like a natural title for the piece.

* * *

The innocent beauty of August Idyll, when I was navigating turmoil, exemplifies an ongoing element of my music - escapism. All my music without exception is about the beauty of music itself. Programs, commissions, texts, or other contexts can often inspire the writing of a piece or its specifics, but everything I write is ultimately a celebration of the beauty and my love of music. I am not good at creating ugly or angry, and I wouldn't want to be - who needs more of that?

 

 

last updated May 8, 2026
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