Gaston Crunelle and Flute Playing in Twentieth-Century France

Gaston Crunelle and Flute Playing in Twentieth-Century France

Leonard Garrison

Gaston Crunelle (1898--1990) was a remarkable flutist and a beloved teacher, yet his name is hardly known today. Gaston Crunelle and Flute Playing in Twentieth-Century France restores Crunelle's place in the pantheon of flutists while revealing details of musical life in France during his lifetime. Crunelle was Professor of Flute at the Paris Conservatory from 1941 to 1969--the longest tenure of any flute professor in the Conservatory's history--and taught an entire generation of the world's leading flutists, including Michel Debost, James Galway, Christian Lardé, Maxence Larrieu, and Jean-Pierre Rampal. He took an active interest in the annual commissions of morceaux de concours or contest pieces--including works by Dutilleux, Jolivet, Messiaen, and Sancan--which the book discusses in detail. As a performer, Crunelle was principal flutist of the Opéra-Comique and the Pasdeloup Orchestra and a member of the Quintette Instrumental de Paris, an ensemble of flute, harp, and string trio that left a rich legacy of about fifty commissioned works. His recordings of solo and chamber music of Bach, Mozart, and Baroque and twentieth-century French composers are among the best of the 78-rpm and early LP eras.

In following Crunelle's early development through to his storied career as performer and pedagogue, Gaston Crunelle and Flute Playing in Twentieth-Century France also chronicles the evolution of musical life in France during the twentieth century, covering music during the silent film era, the interruptions of World War I, the apogee of Paris as a musical center between the wars, the German Occupation of 1940--1944, and the many changes in music and education after May 1968, including the increased participation by women. Through thorough archival research Garrison reveals previously unknown details about the relationships between Crunelle and other French flutists of his time, especially Marcel Moyse and René LeRoy. Oral histories showcase Crunelle's pedagogy, and discographies cover Crunelle and the Quintette Instrumental de Paris. From these rich resources emerges the sympathetic figure of flutist Gaston Crunelle, unjustly forgotten until now.