It may come as a surprise, at least to older flute players, to find at least two pieces for flute and piano in this edition by Emil Prill (1867–1940), author of the Führer durch die Flöten-Literatur (Guide to Flute Literature), a reference work that has lost none of its value even today. He is known as an outstanding flutist, teacher at the Berlin Academy of Music, composer of études and editor of orchestral studies. Even though the two pieces Andante and Tarantelle from Op. 6 were published by Zimmermann in Leipzig in 1904 and are also listed in the supplement to Emil Prill's ‘Guide to Flute Literature’, they have completely disappeared from public consciousness and thus from the repertoire. There is also no reference to the existence of these pieces in German libraries. I first became aware of the Andante from Op. 6 through a performance of the work at the Flute Days 2014 in Würzburg. After the concert, the performer Vladislav Brunner presented me with a copy of a handwritten transcription, which, however, raised some questions regarding the musical text and, initially, also the question of the actual authorship.
After some research, it turned out that, in addition to this Andante from Opus 6, there must also be a Tarantella from Opus 6. It is unclear what the opus number 6 actually refers to. This is because the opus number 6 also includes 30 études in all keys in two volumes, which, however, have no connection to the Andante or the Tarantella op. 6. During my further research, I finally found what I was looking for in the USA, where I was able to locate the first edition of the two pieces. This edition reproduces the first edition from 1904, which differs from the handwritten copy in a few places.
Here we have two very noteworthy and playable pieces from the German late Romantic era, which should definitely be included in the flute repertoire.
