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.

Gaubert was born in Cahors in Southwest France. He became one of the most prominent French musicians between the two World Wars. After a prominent career as a flautist with the Paris Opéra, he was appointed in 1919, at the age of forty, to three positions that placed him at the very center of French musical life:

• Professor of flute at the Conservatoire de Paris (professor of Marcel Moyse),
• Principal conductor of the Paris Opéra
• Principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire.

In 1907 he participated in the first performance of Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet. Among his recordings as conductor, one that he made of Franck's Symphony in D Minor (with the Conservatoire forces) is particularly notable.

Gaubert's compositions are by no means especially innovative, but his work benefited from the examples of Franck, Ravel, and Debussy. Naïla, his opera in three acts, premiered at the Paris Opéra on 7 April 1927. Three of his ballets had their first performances at that venue, as well.

During 1941, Gaubert died of a stroke while in the French capital. His friend, the journalist Jean Bouzerand, convinced the town of Cahors to create a public garden named in his honor near the river Lot in the late 1930s. When Gaubert was still alive, Albert Roussel dedicated the movement 'Monsieur de la Péjaudie' in his piece 'Joueurs de Flûte' to him.

Selected works

Chamber music

• 3 Aquarelles, for flute, cello and piano
• Ballade, for flute and piano
• Ballade for viola and piano (1938)
• Berceuse, for flute and piano
• Cantabile et Scherzetto, for cornet and piano (1909)
• Divertissement Grec, for 2 flutes and harp
• 2 Esquisses, for flute and piano
• Fantaisie for clarinet & piano
• Fantaisie, for flute and piano
• Gavotte en rondeau (after Lully's Les ballets du roi), for flute and piano
• Madrigal, for flute and piano
• Morceau Symphonique, for trombone and piano
• Médailles antiques, for flute, violin and piano
• Nocturne et Allegro Scherzando, for flute and piano
• Pièce Romantique, for flute, cello, and piano
• Romance, for flute and piano (1905)
• Romance, for flute and piano (1908)
• Siciliene, for flute and piano
• Sonata for Flute and Piano, No.1
• Sonata for Flute and Piano, No.2
• Sonata for Flute and Piano, No.3
• Sonatine, for flute and piano
• Suite, for flute and piano
• Sur l'eau, for flute and piano
• Tarantelle, for flute, oboe and piano
• Nocturne et Allegro Scherzando for flute & piano

Vocal

• Soir paien, for voice, flute and piano
• Vocalise in form of Barcarolle, for voice and piano

Cultural offices
Preceded by André Messager	Principal conductors, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire 1919–1938	Succeeded by Charles Münch

External links

• Brief biographical sketch of Philippe Gaubert on the Naxos Records site
• Société des concerts du Conservatoire
• Free scores by Philippe Gaubert at the International Music Score Library Project
• Phillip Gaubert - Classical Archives