Paul Taffanel
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Paul Taffanel is regarded as the founder of the French Flute School that dominated much of flute composition and performance during the mid-20th century.
Born on September 16, 1844, in Bordeaux, France, Taffanel's first flute lessons (at age nine) were from his father, and he gave his first concert around the age of ten. He then went on to study at the Paris Conservatory under Louis Dorus, where he graduated from in 1860. At age 16, he won his first of several awards for flute performance, and for the next thirty years, he had a career as a soloist and orchestral player, He became one of the foremost musicians who tried to develop a national style of music oin France.
In 1879, he founded the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments), reintroducing the music of composers such as Mozart for winds. This changed the dominance in chamber music that piano and strings had previously held.
In 1890, he began to conduct the opera at the conservatory, and in 1893, he became professor of flute there, where he revised the conservatory's repertoire and teaching methods, putting the music of other, foreign composers, including Bach, back into the institute's repertoire. He taught his students that they should play lightly and smoothly, with controlled vibrato. Finally, in 1897, he became head of the orchestras, as well as continuing to teach the flute.
He began to write a method book for flute "17 Grands Exercices Journaliers De Mecanisme", which was finished after his death by two of his students, Louis Fleury and Philippe Gaubert. Today, this is considered a standard method book for flute players to study from. Gaubert became the secondmost (after Taffanel) most recognized French flutist and composer.
He suffered from a physical breakdown in 1901, and died in Paris on November 22, 1908.
Taffanel wrote several pieces that are part of standard flute repertoire today. These include:
- Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino
- Grande Fantasie (Mignon)
- Fantasie, Themes/ Der Freischutz
- Quintette (for woodwind quintet)
Today, Paul Taffanel's enduring legacy as the founder of the French Flute School makes him an important figure in flute history.
[edit] References
- Flutepage - Flutists
- Flute History - Players
- Blakeman, Edward. Taffanel - Genius of the Flute. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 13: 978-0-19-517098-6
