Philippe Gaubert

Philippe Gaubert (1879 – 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 from Marcel Moyse),
* Principal conductor of the Paris Opéra
* Principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire.

As a composer, Gaubert was by no means an innovator, but his work benefited from many of the innovations 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 there, as well.

Gaubert died in Paris in 1941 of a stroke. 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.

Media

External links

* [http://www.naxos.com/composer/btm.asp?fullname=Gaubert,%20Philippe Brief biographical sketch] of Philippe Gaubert on the Naxos Records site

* [http://hector.ucdavis.edu/sdc/ Société des concerts du Conservatoire]