Marcel Tabuteau was a French oboist who is generally considered the founder of the American school of oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

 playing.

Life

Tabuteau was born in Compiègne

Compiègne

Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...

, Oise

Oise

Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, France, and was given a post with the city's municipal wind band at age eleven. He then studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the legendary Georges Gillet.

Walter Damrosch brought Tabuteau, together with the French musicians flutist Georges Barrère

Georges Barrère

Georges Barrère was a French flautist.-Early life:Georges Barrère was the son of a cabinetmaker, Gabriel Barrère, and Marie Périne Courtet, an illiterate farmer's daughter from Guilligomarc'h. They married in 1874. They had previously had a son Étienne, out of wedlock, in 1872...

, bassoonist Auguste Mesnard, clarinetist Leon Leroy and Belgian trumpeter Adolphe Dubois to New York in 1905 to play in his New York Symphony Orchestra

New York Symphony Orchestra

The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a fierce rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie who built Carnegie Hall expressly for the...

. Damrosch was fined by the musician's union for not advertising for musicians from New York, but the emigrating musicians were allowed to stay.

Tabuteau served as principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

 from 1915 to 1954 under the famous Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...

 and, just as importantly, taught in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

. There his classes included Oboe, Woodwind Ensemble, Orchestral Winds/Percussion Class, and String Classes. He taught at Curtis from its founding in 1924 until his retirement in 1953.

Legacy

Tabuteau's many notable oboe students included Rhadames Angelucci, Joseph Robinson, John de Lancie

John de Lancie (oboist)

For his son, the actor, please see John de LancieJohn de Lancie was an American musician who served as the principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years.-Career:...

, Marc Lifschey, John Mack

John Mack (musician)

John Mack was a renowned American oboist.Born in Somerville, New Jersey, Mack attended the Juilliard School of Music, studying oboe with Harold Gomberg and Bruno Labate and then at the Curtis Institute of Music with Marcel Tabuteau, the longtime principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra.His...

, Felix Kraus, John Minsker, William "Bill" Criss, Daniel Stolper

Daniel Stolper

Daniel J. Stolper is an American oboist. Stolper is currently visiting instructor of oboe at the Interlochen Arts Academy, a position he has held since 1972. His primary teacher was Robert Sprenkle at the Eastman School of Music, although he has studied with many other oboists including John Mack...

, Harold Gomberg

Harold Gomberg

Harold Gomberg was the principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic from 1943 through 1977....

, Ralph Gomberg

Ralph Gomberg

Ralph Gomberg was the principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 37 years . His brother Harold held the same chair with the New York Philharmonic for much of the same period ....

, Robert Bloom, Alfred Genovese

Alfred Genovese

Alfred Genovese was principal oboe of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.Genovese was born on April 25, 1931 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

, Donald Baker, Wayne Rapier, and Laila Storch. Storch some years afterward wrote: "During the thirty years during which Tabuteau taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, he came to exercise a decisive influence on the standards of oboe playing in the whole United States, as well as raising the level of woodwind achievement in general. Nor was the impact of his teaching confined to winds alone, as the many string players and pianists who attended his classes will testify."

External links

• Marcel Tabuteau, profile written by Laila Storch and published by To the World's Oboists by the International Double Reed Society, Boulder, Colorado
• A Little Garlic, an article about Marcel Tabuteau in Time Magazine, Nov. 20, 1939
• Quelques photos ! (in french)
• Marcel Tabuteau: How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can't Peel a Mushroom?