Georges-Vital-Victor Gillet (May 17, 1854 – February 8, 1920) was a French

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

, teacher and composer. In addition to premiering oboe works by prominent French composers of the 19th century, including

Émile Paladilhe Émile Paladilhe (3 June 1844 – 6 January 1926) was a French composer of the late romantic period. Biography Émile Paladilhe was born in Montpellier. He was a musical child prodigy, and moved from his home in the south of France to Paris to ...

Charles-Édouard Lefebvre Charles-Édouard Lefebvre (19 June 1843 – 8 September 1917) was a French composer. Lefebvre was born in Paris, the son of painter Charles Lefebvre, and studied with Charles Gounod and Ambroise Thomas at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1870, he wa ...

, Clémence de Grandval, and Camille Saint-Saëns, among others, Gillet was the teacher of Fernand Gillet and

Marcel Tabuteau Marcel Tabuteau (2 July 18874 January 1966) was a French-American oboist who is considered the founder of the American school of oboe playing. Life Tabuteau was born in Compiègne, Oise, France, and given a post in the city's municipal wind band ...

at the Paris Conservatory, helped develop the F. Lorée brand of oboe, and composed a number of

étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popu ...

s that are still used today.

Biography

Born into a musical family in

Louviers Louviers () is a Communes of France, commune in the Eure Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in north-western France. Louviers is from Paris and from Rouen. Population History Prehistory In th ...

on 17 May 1854, Gillet and his brother,

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and composer, Ernest Gillet (1856–1940) were musical prodigies. Gillet began studying the oboe when he was twelve and, less than a year later, entered the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

to study with Charles Colin.Storch, Laila. "Georges Gillet—Master Teacher and Performer." Journal of the International Double Reed Society 5 (June 1977): 1–19. After receiving the premier prix at 15 years old, he graduated in 1869. After graduating, he held oboe positions with the

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Concerts Colonne The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...

Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire () was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini. Administered by the phi ...

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

, and the

Paris Opera 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 kn ...

, as well as a longtime teaching position at the Paris Conservatory from 1881 to 1919. In addition to orchestra and teaching positions, Gillet was a founding member of the Société de Musique de Chambre pour Instruments à Vent (

Chamber Music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

Society for Wind Instruments) with

Paul Taffanel Claude-Paul Taffanel (16 September 1844 – 22 November 1908) was a French flautist, conductor and instructor, regarded as the founder of the French Flute School that dominated much of flute composition and performance during the mid-20th century. ...

, Charles-Paul Turban, and Camille Saint-Saëns which premiered works by

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 ...

, Lefebvre, Saint-Saëns, and

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

. Gillet was well respected in 19th Century France, with his nephew Fernand later stating that his sound, technique and reed making were "the envy of all". Gillet died February 8, 1920, at the age of 65, and was buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

Paris Conservatory

Gillet started at the conservatory in October 1881. As a teacher, two of Gillet's notable students were his nephew, Fernand Gillet and

. Tabuteau used his teacher's methods to adapt a new playing style in America. Other students included two principal oboists of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

, Albert Weiss and Georges Longy; Alfred Barthel, principal of the Chicago Symphony; Louis Speyer and Alexandre Duvoir. Gillet is credited with introducing vibrato at the Paris Conservatory as well as teaching students to warm up by playing three chromatic scales in thirds in any given practice session. While at the conservatory, Gillet composed a set of etudes, ''Etudes pur L'enseignement Superieur du Hautbois.'' Gillet cared greatly about his students, so his life became increasingly strained when three of them were killed in World War I. Gillet retired for health reasons in 1919.

Work with Lorée

Before Lorée was established in 1881, the dominant oboe manufacturer was Triebert, headed by Fréderic Triebert. Gillet worked with Triebert to formulate the system 6 oboe, better known as the "Conservatory" oboe. The Lorée company was established when François Lorée left his job as the last foreman of Triebert. According to Laila Storch, Gillet encouraged Lorée to open his own company.Storch, Laila. "100 Years F. Lorée: 1881–1981." ''Journal of the International Double Reed Society'' 9 (June 1981): 28–42. François Lorée and his son Adolphe Lucien Lorée worked with Gillet and made F. Lorée oboes one of the most popular brands manufactured. Gillet quickly designated Lorée oboes as the required brand to be used by students attending the Paris Conservatory. In 1906, Lorée's son, Lucien, collaborated with Gillet to create the "conservatory plateau system" oboe, a style that is universally in use today.

Compositions

Gillet also composed a set of études titled ''Études pour L'enseignement Supérieur du Hautbois'', or Studies for the Advanced Teaching of the Oboe, which have become a standard part of oboe repertoire. In the introduction to the études, Gillet stated that he wrote the studies for his students in order to be able to play the increasingly difficult solo and orchestral repertoire for the oboe, and that composers should use the études as a rough guide to the technical possibilities of the oboe. The études are in common use today. Oboist

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used the étude book as the fourth and final book in his pedagogical progression for his students at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillet, Georges French classical oboists French male oboists 19th-century classical musicians 19th-century French classical composers 20th-century French classical composers 1854 births 1920 deaths People from Louviers Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris French male classical composers 20th-century French musicians 19th-century French musicians Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Knights of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French male musicians 19th-century French male musicians