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Abstract
Michel Blavet (1700-1768) was the premier flutist in France in the first half of the eighteenth century. In addition to a performing career, Blavet also composed several works for flute, including his Opus II and Opus III collections of sonatas. The Opus II collection is readily available to the modern flutist in several modern print editions, but the Opus III collection has been virtually neglected by publishers and scholars. Only two editions of the Opus III collection are currently available: Danish edition published by Broekmanns en Von Poppel, and a French edition published by Billaudot. Additionally, scholarship on the Opus III collection is quite limited. This document creates a modern, scholarly edition of the Opus III collection, together with a study of its style and performance practice issues. This document is organized in two parts: Chapter I includes a discussion of Blavet's career and works; a discussion of the style of the Opus III collection in which each Opus III sonata is examined for evidence of les goúts réunis and a discussion of the performance practice issues involved. Additionally, Chapter I includes explicit information pertaining to the execution of these sonatas in a stylistic manner. Chapter II provides the performing edition of the sonatas themselves.
