Jules Demersseman

Jules Auguste Édouard Demersseman (1833-1866) was a French flautist and composer, born in Hondschoote. A pupil of Jean-Louis Tulou at the Paris Conservatoire, he established himself as a virtuoso at an early age. His output includes concert pieces, operatic fantasies and other works for flute, as well as orchestral music and the operetta La Princesse Kaïka.

A friend of Adolphe Sax, Demersseman was also among the early composers to explore the saxophone. His music for the instrument helped develop its concert repertoire, combining cantabile writing with the virtuoso language of nineteenth-century instrumental music. He died in Paris at the age of thirty-three.