Virtuoso Works for Unaccompanied Flute

Album Notes

Tulou and Walckiers: Two Forgotten Composers of the Early Nineteenth Century

Dr Wendell Dobbs, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, USA

The flautist Jean-Louis Tulou (1786–1865) was a prominent figure in Parisian musical life during the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in Paris, the son of a bassoonist, he studied the flute with Wunderlich at the newly established Paris Conservatoire. He eventually succeeded his teacher as flautist at the Paris Opéra. An outspoken republican during the constitutional monarchies of Louis XVIII and Charles X, he fell from favour and lost his position at the Opéra. In 1829, as the regime’s political influence declined, he was appointed professor of flute at the Conservatoire, retaining the post until his retirement in 1856.

By 1829 Tulou was collaborating with the craftsman Jacques Nonon in manufacturing flutes, and from 1831 many Tulou instruments were sold to the Conservatoire. The partnership continued until 1852, when the two separated following a disagreement, reportedly over Nonon’s wish to manufacture Boehm flutes. Tulou resisted instruments based on Theobald Boehm’s innovations. In one notable challenge, his former pupil Victor Coche attempted to establish a second Conservatoire class devoted to the new instrument. A jury led by Cherubini ultimately retained the Tulou flute as the Conservatoire’s official instrument. Tulou subsequently announced his flûte perfectionnée, intended to answer further doubts about the superiority of his instrument.

As professor, Tulou dominated flute playing in Paris for more than a generation. His pupils included leading figures of mid-century French flute playing, among them Dorus, Donjon, Altès and Demersseman. He was a prolific composer, writing numerous duets, fantasies and variations, many of which survive in modern editions. His fifteen Grand Solos were required works in the Conservatoire’s annual competition for the coveted first prize. His flute method dates from the 1830s and was officially adopted by the Conservatoire in 1852. He retired in 1856 and died in Nantes.

Auguste-Eugène Walckiers (1793–1866) was born in Avesnes-sur-Helpe, in the département of Nord, and died in Paris. Conscripted at twenty, he and his brother Antoine served as military musicians during Napoleon’s final campaigns. Eugène subsequently served as a military musician in Soissons. He taught in Le Havre before settling permanently in Paris around 1830. His teachers included Marchand, Reicha and Tulou.

For many years Walckiers taught flute and composition from his apartment at 10 rue des Prouvaires, within sight of Saint-Eustache. It is not known whether he held a performing post in Paris, although he was highly regarded, particularly for his beautiful flute tone. He composed extensively: duets, trios and quartets for flutes, works for solo flute, and fantasies on operatic themes, especially those of Meyerbeer. His two-volume flute method dates from 1829. He also wrote five sonatas for flute and piano, works for flute with strings or other wind instruments, and, late in life, chamber music for strings. In 1867 Johannes Donjon performed one of his flute sonatas “to render pious homage to the memory of an excellent artist”.

Reference: Ursula Pesek, translated by Traute Marshall, “The Life and Work of Eugène Walckiers”, The Flutist Quarterly 37, no. 1 (2011), pp. 40–45.

The Instrument and the Repertoire

Paolo Dalmoro

The flute heard on this recording is a typical French-style flûte ordinaire, made in the second half of the nineteenth century in Tarbes, southern France, by Bauer, a German-born craftsman who became a naturalised French citizen. This construction was common in nineteenth-century France: five keys provide the notes outside D major—D sharp, G sharp, F natural, A sharp and C natural. The headjoint is a copy of the original made by John Gallagher of Elkins, West Virginia, USA.

The instrument’s effective range extends three octaves from D above middle C. Its tone is characteristically sweet, although it can be powerful, particularly in the third octave. It is comparable to the flute Tulou would have played and taught during his career as professor at the Paris Conservatoire.

The Tulou works performed here were originally written for flute and piano. The unaccompanied versions are drawn from Ny Maanedlig-Journal For Fløite Solo, Samlet og Forlagt af C.D. Milde i Kjøbenhavn, an important flute periodical published in Copenhagen by the Danish composer C. D. Milde (1788–1864). Walckiers’s works are taken from Les Délassemens du Flûtiste, Op. 47.

Further reading: Tom Moore, The Ny Maanedlig-Journal For Fløite Solo, Samlet og Forlagt af C.D. Milde i Kjøbenhavn, available on Academia.edu.

With heartfelt thanks to my friend Wendell Dobbs. Dedicated to my family.

Recording and production

Recorded at Transeuropa Studio, Turin, in April 2016. Sound engineers: Fabrizio Chiapello and Federico Milella. Photographs: Maurizio Laurenti. Production, design and art direction: OMK–Da Vinci. Printed with the support of S.P.L.M.