Grande fantaisie

This recently discovered and hitherto unknown Grande Fantaisie for flute and piano is an early work of Franz Doppler. It is still without all’ongarese elements and may have been written around 1850, before Doppler had started to have his compositions published in about 1858. The fantasy opens with a slow introduction, followed by a theme and a couple of variations.

The source of the theme is not revealed, however it bears close resemblance to the song „An Alexis send’ ich Dich“ by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel as well as to the Andante (favori) in f-major for Piano, WoO 57 by Beethoven. Both of them were very popular and often used for improvisations and variations at that time.