Reine Flachot (10 October 1922 in

Santa Fe, Argentina Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (; usually called just Santa Fe, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city of the provinces of Argentina, province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, Argentina. It is situated in north-eastern Argentina, near the junction of t ...

– 29 October 1998) was a French female

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 ...

Biography

Reine Flachot arrived in France at the age of twelve when her French parents returned home. There, she began her studies with Jean Dumont and then, in 1935, 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 ...

in the class of

Gérard Hekking Gérard Hekking (24 August 1879 – 5 June 1942) was a French cellist. Born in Nancy, "He studied cello, first in The Hague with Professor Boumann, then in Paris in Delsart's class. Unanimously awarded first prize in 1898, he travelled as a co ...

. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, she was awarded several prizes (1st prize of cello in 1938) and entered the

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 ...

for which she performed the

Cello Concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instru ...

Édouard Lalo Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer, violist, violinist, and academic teacher. His most celebrated piece is the '' Symphonie Espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra that re ...

. There followed a career that made her the ambassador of the "French school of cello for sixty years" (Christine Heurtefeux) all over the world, with a strong activity between the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1970s, a period from which she devoted much time to the transmission of her knowledge. During these years, she served in particular the works of

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

(Suite Cisalpine, 1954), Charles Brown (Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre, 1956), Pierre-Max Dubois (Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre, 1958), Francis Miroglio (Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, 1961), Émile Mawet (Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre, 1965),

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Music of the Soviet Union#Classical music of the Soviet Union, Soviet composers. Khachaturian was born and rai ...

(Concerto-Rhapsodie, 1967),

André Jolivet André Jolivet (; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influ ...

(Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre, 1971),

Henri Sauguet Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...

(Sonate pour violoncelle, 1972... At the same time, Reine Flachot became a pedagogue. In 1966, she joined the

École normale de musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot and Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (English: no ...

, which she left in 1970 for the Centre musical international of

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

before the Tōhō Gakuen called her. She stayed there until 1974, when she joined the

City of Basel Music Academy The City of Basel Music Academy () is an institution for music education, located in Basel, Switzerland. It comprises a music school, college of music, and a center for early music research and performance. History The origins of the City of Base ...

, while continuing her studies at the ENM in Paris and becoming the first woman named cello teacher ( CNSM de Lyon). She ceased all teaching activities in 1995. That same year, she gave her last concerts in Japan, preferring to withdraw. "I prefer," she said, "to leave a beautiful picture of me and I'm tired." She was then 73 years old and ended a career having led her to choose with restraint her discographic production (4 recordings). During her career, Reine Flachot was distinguished by the Piatigorsky Prize (1954) and the international Orense Prize (1965). Reine Flachot died aged 76.Mort de la musicienne Reine Flachot
on ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

References

External links

Reine Flachot

Reine Flachot's discography
on Discogs
Reine Flachot plays Debussy cello sonate
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Flachot, Reine French women classical cellists French classical cellists 1922 births 1998 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the École Normale de Musique de Paris Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris 20th-century French women musicians French music educators French women music educators 20th-century French classical musicians French expatriates in Argentina 20th-century French cellists