The Incredible Flutist

The Incredible Flutist is a ballet composed by Walter Piston in 1938; it was given its premiere by the Boston Pops, under Hans Wiener, on May 30 of that year. The text of the ballet was written by Piston and Wiener. It describes a marketplace teeming with activity and enlivened by a circus. A flutist acts as a snake charmer, and also charms women. A rich widow flirts with a merchant, is discovered by her lover, faints, and is revived by the flutist's music. The circus then leaves the square.

Piston arranged music from the ballet into a suite for orchestra; this was premiered on November 22, 1940, by the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner. The suite is in thirteen movements:

• Introduction
• Siesta Hour in the Marketplace and Entrance of the Vendors
• Dance of the Vendors
• Entrance of the Customers
• Tango of the Four Daughters
• Arrival of Circus and Circus March
• Solo of the Flutist
• Minuet - Dance of the Widow and Merchant
• Spanish Waltz
• Eight O'Clock Strikes
• Siciliano - Dance of the Flutist and the Merchant's Daughter
• Polka
• Finale

References

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.

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