Maurice André (21 May 1933 – 25 February 2012) was a French

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, active in the classical music field. He was professor of trumpet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris where he introduced the teaching of the

piccolo trumpet The piccolo trumpet is the smallest member of the trumpet family, pitched one octave higher than the standard B trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets are built to play in either B or A, using a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B piccol ...

including the Baroque repertoire on trumpet. André has inspired many innovations on his instrument and he contributed to the popularization of the trumpet.

Biography

André who was born in

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is one of the sub-prefectures of the department. It was formerly known as ''Alais''. Geography Alès lies north-northwest of Nîmes, on t ...

in the Cévennes, into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician; André studied trumpet with a friend of his father, who suggested that André be sent to the conservatory. In order to gain free admission to the conservatory, he joined a

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

. After only six months at the conservatory, he won his first prize. At the conservatory, André's professor,

Raymond Sabarich Raymond Antoine Sabarich (23 July 1909, in Toulouse – 5 April 1966) was a French composer and trumpeter, a member of Raymond Legrand's orchestra. After studying with Eugène Foveau Eugène Foveau (26 November 1886 – 5 January 1957) was a Frenc ...

, reprimanded him for not having worked hard enough and told him to return when he could excel in his playing. A few weeks later, he returned to play all fourteen etudes found in the back of Arban's

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this phys ...

to a very high standard. Sabarich later said that "it was then that Maurice Andre became Maurice Andre." Maurice André won the Geneva International Music Competition in 1955, together with

Theo Mertens Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, and the ARD International Music Competition in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

in 1963. He was made an honorary member of the Delta chapter of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...

at Ithaca College in New York in 1970. André rose to international prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with a series of recordings of baroque works on

for

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius ...

and other labels. He also performed many transcriptions of works for oboe, flute, and even voice and string instruments. André had over 300 audio recordings to his name, from the mid-1950s to his death. André had three children: Lionel (1959–1988), trumpeter and music teacher; Nicolas, who plays the trumpet; and Béatrice, who plays the oboe. All three performed with their father in concert. He also made several recordings with his brother Raymond (b. 1941). One of André's students, Guy Touvron, wrote a biography entitled ''Maurice André: Une trompette pour la renommée'' (Maurice André: A Trumpet for Fame), which was published in 2003. André spent the last few years of his life in retirement in southern France. He died at the age of 78 in a hospital in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

on 25 February 2012. He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Saint-André-Capcèze (in the Lozère).

References

External links

Maurice André
website, part of the French Ministry of Culture's portal (French/English)
Webpage with rich information about Maurice AndréMaurice André and Prague
Documents and reminiscences on the recording of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major in 1965 (Maurice André, Milan Munclinger, Ars Rediviva)
AllMusic Guide to Maurice Andre Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Maurice 1933 births 2012 deaths People from Alès EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists French classical trumpeters Male trumpeters French cornetists Conservatoire de Paris alumni Conservatoire de Paris faculty Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century French musicians 20th-century trumpeters Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur 20th-century French male musicians Erato Records artists 20th-century classical musicians