Philippe Gaubert

Philippe Gaubert (born July 5, 1879 in Cahors , † July 8, 1941 in Paris ) was a French composer and flautist .

Life

Gaubert was born in Cahors as the son of a hobby clarinetist and received violin lessons at a very early age. When the family moved to Paris in 1886, Gaubert took flute lessons.

Gaubert studied from 1893 at the Conservatoire de Paris and was there a. a. Student of the flute teacher Paul Taffanel . Since 1886 he was already taking private lessons with Taffanel. Together with his teacher, he wrote the textbook Méthode complète de flûte from around 1900 . The work was published from 1923.

In 1894 he received the Premier Prix des Conservatoire. Since 1897 he played in his first job as a solo flutist at the Paris Opéra. In 1903 he won a composition prize for a fugue. In 1904 Gaubert became the second conductor of the Societe des Concerts.

In 1905 he won the second prize of the prestigious Prix ​​de Rome ( Rome Prize ).

Drafted for military service in World War I from 1914, he was a participant in the Battle of Verdun and was awarded the Croix de guerre .

After participating in the war, Gaubert was given a professorship at the Paris Conservatory in 1919 and was promoted to first conductor of the Societe des Concerts.

As a professor he was the teacher of Marcel Moyse , the father of the modern flute school, who in turn taught many important flautists, such as Aurèle Nicolet , Jean-Pierre Rampal and James Galway . The composers Albert Roussel and Jacques Ibert also studied with Gaubert. In addition, from 1920 he was chief conductor of the Paris Opéra. From 1931 Gaubert was its artistic director, while simultaneously giving up the professorship. Numerous works of flute literature are dedicated to him, for example the 4th movement from Joueurs de Flute by Albert Roussel.

His compositional work is stylistically influenced by Gabriel Fauré .

On July 8, 1941, Gaubert died unexpectedly of a stroke in Paris.

Works (selection)

• An opera
• Orchestral works (including a symphony (1935-36), a violin concerto, a cello concerto (Poème Romanesque pour Violoncello et Orchester))
• Chamber music, in particular for flute
  • 3 sonatas f. Flute a. Piano (composed in 1917, 1924 and 1934)
  • Sonatina f. Flute a. piano
  • Nocturne et Allegro scherzando f. Flute a. piano
  • Fantasy f. Flute and piano
  • Fantasy f. Clarinet and piano
  • Ballad for flute and piano (1927)
  • Ballad for viola and piano (1938)

literature

• András Adorján , Lenz Meierott (Ed.): Lexicon of the Flute , Laaber-Verl., Laaber 2009, ISBN 978-3-89007-545-7