Some of these work well as folk tunes; indeed, some may have been folk tunes originally.
What baroque/classical tunes work well as tunes for our instruments?
The Minuet in G certainly does. Made lots of money playing it busking.
Others?
“Ode to Joy”
“Trumpet Tune”
“Rondeau” by Mouret
almost all the baroque trumpet repertoire works - they’re mostly in D
Pat
MTGuru can probably give you some excellent recommendations on this…
I’ve heard that Ode to Joy was once a drinking song.
Anybody know if that’s really true?
I’ve heard that about several of Bach’s works, too.
But I’ve never found corroboration for that, either.
Jim, you might find the selection in The Barnes Book of English Country Dance Tunes pleasing (http://www.elderly.com/books/items/449-1.htm). Some are attributed to composers of Baroque, and many have a feeling that seems as close to that tradition as to the folk tunes we’re all used to. Much fun to be had with them.
I like playing the Bach Bouree – it works okay on whistle or one-key flute, as it has some Eflats. Of course, many O’Carolan tunes are as close to Baroque music as they are to folk music. In the Neal collection, there’s a set of variations on The O’Rourkes’ Feast by some Italian guy I’d never heard of. It’s very interesting, though a tad different and difficult. I might be able to dig it up if you read dots.
I like the part in Swan Lake that one of our music boxes plays.
You could try playing it while standing on one leg ala Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull…
I love playing the opening aria of Bach’s Goldberg variations on whistle. It fits perfectly within the range of a D whistle, although you do have to half hole a few Fnat and an Eb’s.
Actually, you could play anything by Carolan. His birth and death dates of 1670-1738 place him firmly in the baroque and a contemporary of JS Bach himself (1685-1750).
there are duets written for musette or hurdy gurdy that will work on the whistle by the french baroque composer chedeville.
Have a look through the recordings in my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/hostroute
Lots of baroque and early music in there, with more to come, but today I am recording Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael which is a new departure for me into swing.
I have been playing classical music on the whistle for thirty years and I have been surprised by the interest people have shown in it, even if my recorder playing friends are a bit snooty about it.
Of all the classical recordings I have done on whistle this is the one that gets the most views:
Bach Badinerie from suite in B Minor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ppJLVtTTg
However this is the one I am personally most happy with:
Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto by Monteverdi played on a Clarke original whistle in C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3z4isUPPY
That Badinerie is a great one on the whistle (nice job!) and is indeed difficult.
If you play the 8th notes dotted instead of evenly as they’re written, the piece turns into a killer good hornpipe 
De Dannan recorded this as The Rambles of Bach on their recording Jacket of Batteries.
How about PANIS ANGELICUS,
AVE MARIA (Bach-Gounod version);
LAMB OF GOD (ignore the lyrics!);
PACHABEL’S CANON;
GREENSLEEVES;
Dvorvak’s LARGO;
DONA NOBIS PACEM;
MULL OF KINTYRE (!);
NELLA FANTASIA (superb);
Borodin’s POLOVTSIAN DANCE (Stranger in Paradise);
Albinoni’s ADAGIO; and
MTGuru’s Sonata by Telemann (I might attempt this one in my next life …);or
Any of Handel’s flute sonatas (which I haven’t tried - anyone got any encouragement that I should?).
Someone told me about Bach’s BADINERIE, but I haven’t looked it up yet.
I forgot the Pachelbel. If you can find the sheet music, you and two other whistle players can play it as a 3 part canon. The first player plays two measures and continues while the second player starts. The third player comes in two measures later. When the first player gets to the end they all stop. It’s not as hard as it sounds,and even the parts with 16 th notes are not very fast. My wife and I have played it on recorders as a two part canon and although it’s not as full sounding it’s still quite nice.
Beethoven does tend to drive me to drink.
I had a go at the Pachelbel canon this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSy1YS6gDPo
My wife doesn’t like me playing too much when she is in so I just had about 15 minutes while she was out at the shop to get three tracks recorded.
Just completed it before she came back.
Took ages to mix down of course, but I can do that with headphones on.
neat
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!! Very well done, both the playing and the mix. Oh, and the photos too.
Have yer heard of Carolan then?
His compositions for harp bridge traditional folk and classical music which at that time was Baroque driven.
Most of the 18th century Scottish music is written in the baroque style. All the original Burns and Neil Gow is arranged that way. My friend Steve is planning to put all the original Burns arrangements on his web site http://www.scotmus.com There are other useful things on there at the moment.