Marcel Caens (1919 – November 2006) was a French classical

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

er.

Early life

Born in

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Hon ...

, Caens began studying the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

at Villedieu-les-Poêles with Michel Havard.

Career

In 1937, he joined the army and met

Bourvil André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Loui ...

and

Louiguy Louis Guglielmi (3 April 1916 – 4 April 1991), known by his pen name Louiguy (), was a Spanish-born French people, French musician of Italian descent. He wrote the melody for Édith Piaf's lyrics of "La Vie en Rose" and the Latin jazz com ...

(composer of ''

La Vie en rose ; ) is the signature song of popular French singer Édith Piaf, written in 1945, popularized in 1946, and released as a single in 1947. The song became very popular in the United States in 1950, when seven versions reached the ''Billboard'' cha ...

''). He entered the

Conservatoire de Paris 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 ...

with Eugène Foveau where he won the 2nd Prize for cornet in 1939. From 1940 to 1943, he was a prisoner in Germany. In 1944, he won the 2nd Trumpet Prize and the First Prize in 1945. In 1946, he was hired by the Moroccan Radio Orchestra in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

and at the where he also taught at the Conservatory. In 1954, he became a professor at the Conservatoire National de Région de

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

as well as principal trumpet of the Orchestre du Théâtre. Marcel Caens is violinist Maurice Caens' nephew. He is the father of trumpeter Thierry Caens, saxophonist Jean-Pierre Caens, Hervé Caens, a music teacher, and Joëlle Caens (épouse Guidot).

Sources

Article de Jean-Pierre Mathez
pour le magazine international des cuivres BRASS BULLETIN No. 93 -I/1996, pages 68 to 78. {{DEFAULTSORT:Caens, Marcel 1919 births 2006 deaths People from Honfleur Musicians from Normandy Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical trumpeters French male trumpeters French music educators 20th-century French trumpeters 20th-century French male musicians 20th-century French classical musicians