Paul Taffanel
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Claude-Paul Taffanel (16 September 1844 – 22 November 1908) was a French
flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
, conductor and instructor, regarded as the founder of the French Flute School that dominated much of
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
composition and performance during the mid-20th century.


Early years

Born in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, Taffanel received his first lessons on the flute from his father at the age of nine. After giving his first concert at the age of ten, he studied with Vincent Dorus at the
Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...
. Once he graduated in 1860, he won his first of several awards for flute performance at age sixteen. Taffanel built a substantial career as both soloist and orchestral player over 30 years, becoming known as the foremost flautist of his time and reestablishing the instrument in the mainstream of music.


Professorship

In 1893, Taffanel became Professor of Flute at the Conservatoire. As Professor, he revised the institute's repertoire and teaching methods, restructuring the traditional masterclass format to give students individual attention while building a reputation as an inspiring teacher. He instructed his students to play in a new, smoother style that included a light and carefully modulated vibrato.


Reviving early music

Taffanel also revamped the required repertoire for his Conservatory students. Beginning in 1894, he replaced much of the 19th-century music his student
Louis Fleury Louis Fleury (24 May 1878 – 10 June 1926) was a French flautist, pupil of Paul Taffanel at the Paris Conservatoire. Claude Debussy dedicated the piece for solo flute Syrinx (Debussy), Syrinx to him in 1913, and Fleury performed the première ...
called "idle twittering" with works by
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
and other composers of the 18th century. Until then, French musicians (save for a handful of organists) had ignored the Bach revival that had swept England, Germany and Austria.
Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...
, who had studied Bach in Italy before coming to Paris, noted that none of his classmates at the Conservatoire knew that composer's music. Taffanel toured widely in Europe. This placed him ahead of his contemporaries in awareness of baroque repertoire (his tours had included playing
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
concertos at the
Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The fi ...
in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, a singular honour for a French performer). Thanks to this awareness, Taffanel's impact on the early music revival in France cannot be overestimated. Louis Fleury wrote:
Bach's sonatas, those wonders, long buried in the dust of libraries, awakened to find a real interpreter n Taffanel He was the first, at any rate in France, to find out the meaning of these works, which his colleagues thought dull and badly written for the instrument ... It is a fact, though hardly credible, that down to 1895 Bach sonatas were not taught in the flute class (under Altes) at the conservatoire.
His work sparked and helped fuel a growing interest in France in early music, with editions such as Saint-Saëns' of music by
Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...
. In 1897, Taffanel also became head of the orchestra class at the Conservatoire.


Conductor

In addition to his teaching duties, Taffanel became an important opera and orchestra conductor, serving from 1890 to 1906 as chief conductor at both the
Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
and the ''
Société des Concerts du Conservatoire Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...
''. Previously these positions had been awarded to string players; Taffanel was the first flautist to hold them. Taffanel's duties at the Opéra included directing all new productions, among which during his tenure were French premieres of various
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
operas and
Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
's ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...
''. At the Societe des Concerts, Taffanel championed
Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
and other contemporary French composers. He also gave the world premiere of Verdi's ''
Quattro pezzi sacri The ''Quattro pezzi sacri'' (, ''Four Sacred Pieces'') are choral works by Giuseppe Verdi. Written separately during the last decades of the composer's life and with different origins and purposes, they were nevertheless published together in 18 ...
''. He revised the Conservatory's repertoire and teaching methods, putting the music of other, foreign composers, including
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, back into the institute's repertoire.


Chamber musician

Chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
did not escape Taffanel's attention. Founding the ''Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent'' (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments) in 1879, he revived the
wind ensemble A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...
music of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
and
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
while also encouraging the composition of many new works, including
Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
's ''Petite symphonie''. In addition, during the 1880s, Taffanel participated in "historic" concerts, playing his Boehm flute alongside
viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
and
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
in performances of
baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
.


Composer and writer

Taffanel was also a fluent composer for the flute and
wind quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...
, writing several pieces considered part of the standard flute repertoire today. These include: * ''Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino'' * ''Grande Fantaisie sur
Mignon ''Mignon'' is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. The ...
'' * ''Fantaisie sur thèmes du Freischütz'' * Quintet in G minor (for woodwind quintet) (1876) He also began writing a method book for flute, ''17 Grands exercices journaliers de mécanisme'', which was finished after his death by two of his students, Louis Fleury and
Philippe Gaubert Philippe Gaubert (5 July 1879 – 8 July 1941) was a French musician who was a distinguished performer on the flute, a respected conductor, and a composer, primarily for the flute. Biography Gaubert – commonly referred to as Gauberto – ...
. Today, this is considered a standard method book for flute players to study from. Gaubert became the second most recognized French flautist and composer (after Taffanel).


Death

Taffanel suffered from a physical breakdown in 1901, and died in Paris aged 64.


Playing style

Taffanel came at a crucial moment in the flute's history, after
Theobald Boehm file:Theobald Böhm.jpg, Theobald Böhm, photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl, ca. 1852. Theobald Böhm (or Boehm) (9 April 1794 – 25 November 1881) was a German inventor and musician, who perfected the modern Western concert flute and improved ...
had completely remodeled the instrument. He proved the flute fully capable of elegance and extreme expressiveness. At the same time, the credo later advocated by the French Flute School that tone quality was more important than loudness did not always hold true for him. His low register was often described as "powerful and brassy", "ample" or "full". This may have been due in part to Parisian audiences of the period. They expected the flute, along with all the woodwinds, to play with assertiveness. When
Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for es ...
conducted the
Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
in Paris, critics and audiences alike criticized the tone of the wind instruments as being too small.
Georges Barrère Georges Barrère (Bordeaux, October 31, 1876 - New York, June 14, 1944) was a French flutist.Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001) Early life Georges Barrère was the son of a cabinetmaker, Gabriel Barrère, and Marie Périne Courtet ...
recalled in 1921 that quality and quantity of tone as well as fine technique were not all that set Taffanel's playing apart. Fleury added:
Elegance, flexibility, and sensitivity were the hallmarks of Taffanel's artistry, and his phenomenal virtuosity was made as inconspicuous as possible. He hated affectation, believing that the text of the music should be respected absolutely, and beneath the supple fluency of his playing there was a rigorous adherence to accuracy of pulse and rhythm.
"Rigorous adherence" is a relative term here. By the standards of his time, Taffanel's pulse and rhythm were free from exaggeration. As rhythmic interpretation became more literal in 20th century practice, recordings of Taffanel's contemporaries came to sound relatively free and loose. Another aspect of flute playing which Taffanel changed was his use of
vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
, which differed markedly from the standards later developed by the French Flute School. The Taffanel-Gaubert ''Méthode'' discouraged vibrato, especially in playing early music. Taffanel himself, however, employed "a light, almost imperceptible vibrato", according to Fleury. Another pupil, Adolphe Hennebains, went into more detail:
When he spoke to us of notes with vibrato or expression, he told us with a mysterious air that these notes, forte or piano, seemed to come from within himself. One had the impression that they came directly from the heart or soul.Quoted in Marcel Moyce: "The Unsolvable Problem: Considerations on Flute Vibrato", in ''Woodwind Magazine'' 2:7 (1950), p. 4, quoted in Toff, ''Flute Book'', 111. As quoted in .


Works dedicated to Taffanel

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...
dedicated his '' Fantasie'' to him, Charles-Marie Widor dedicated his Suite, Op. 34 to him, and
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
intended to write him a flute concerto shortly before his death. Also the Romanian composer
George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...
dedicated his ''Cantabile and Presto'' to Taffanel.


References

Sources * *


External links


Flutepage – Flutists

Flute History – Players

Société des concerts du Conservatoire
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taffanel, Paul Musicians from Bordeaux 1844 births 1908 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 19th-century French composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris faculty Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical flautists French male classical composers French male conductors (music) French Romantic composers 20th-century flautists