Georges-Vital-Victor Gillet (May 17, 1854 – February 8, 1920) was a French
oboist
An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette.
The following is a list of notable past and pres ...
, teacher and composer. In addition to premiering oboe works by prominent French composers of the 19th century, including
Émile Paladilhe
Émile Paladilhe (3 June 1844 – 6 January 1926) was a French composer of the late romantic period.
Biography
Émile Paladilhe was born in Montpellier. He was a musical child prodigy, and moved from his home in the south of France to Paris ...
,
Charles-Édouard Lefebvre,
Clémence de Grandval, and Camille Saint-Saëns, among others, Gillet was the teacher of
Fernand Gillet and
Marcel Tabuteau at the Paris Conservatory, helped develop the
F. Lorée
F. Lorée is a manufacturer of double reed musical instruments based in Paris, France. Lorée produces professional-level instruments in the oboe family under the brand ''F. Lorée'' and student-level oboes under the brand ''Cabart''.
F. Lorée ...
brand of oboe, and composed a number of
étude
An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapid ...
s that are still used today.
Biography
Born into a musical family in
Louviers
Louviers () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in north-western France.
Louviers is from Paris and from Rouen.
Population
History
Prehistory
In the area around Louviers, cut stones from the Paleolithic era have been foun ...
on 17 May 1854, Gillet and his brother,
cellist and composer,
Ernest Gillet (1856–1940) were musical prodigies.
Gillet began studying the oboe when he was twelve and, less than a year later, entered the
Paris Conservatory
The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...
to study with Charles Colin.
[Storch, Laila. "Georges Gillet—Master Teacher and Performer." Journal of the International Double Reed Society 5 (June 1977): 1–19.] After receiving the premier prix at 15 years old, he graduated in 1869.
After graduating, he held oboe positions with the
Comédie-Italienne
Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France.
The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed b ...
,
Concerts Colonne
The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne.
History
While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...
,
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini.
Administered by the philh ...
,
Opéra-Comique, and the
Paris Opera,
as well as a longtime teaching position at the Paris Conservatory from 1881 to 1919.
In addition to orchestra and teaching positions, Gillet was a founding member of the Société de Musique de Chambre pour Instruments à Vent (
Chamber Music Society for Wind Instruments) with
Paul Taffanel
Claude-Paul Taffanel (16 September 1844 – 22 November 1908) was a French flautist, conductor and instructor, regarded as the founder of the French Flute School that dominated much of flute composition and performance during the mid-20th century ...
, Charles-Paul Turban, and Camille Saint-Saëns which premiered works by
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
, Lefebvre, Saint-Saëns, and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
.
Gillet was well respected in 19th Century France, with his nephew Fernand later stating that his sound, technique and reed making were "the envy of all".
Gillet died February 8, 1920, at the age of 65, and was buried in the
Montmartre Cemetery
The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...
.
Paris Conservatory
Gillet started at the conservatory in October 1881. As a teacher, two of Gillet's notable students were his nephew,
Fernand Gillet and
Marcel Tabuteau. Tabuteau used his teacher's methods to adapt a new playing style in America. Other students included two principal oboists of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Albert Weiss and
Georges Longy; Alfred Barthel, principal of the Chicago Symphony;
Louis Speyer and Alexandre Duvoir. Gillet is credited with introducing vibrato at the Paris Conservatory as well as teaching students to warm up by playing three chromatic scales in thirds in any given practice session.
While at the conservatory, Gillet composed a set of etudes, ''Etudes pur L'enseignement Superieur du Hautbois.'' Gillet cared greatly about his students, so his life became increasingly strained when three of them were killed in World War I.
Gillet retired due to health reasons in 1919.
Work with Lorée
Before Lorée was established in 1881, the dominant oboe manufacturer was Triebert, headed by Fréderic Triebert.
Gillet worked with Triebert to formulate the system 6 oboe, better known as the "Conservatory" oboe. The Lorée company was established when François Lorée left his job as the last
foreman
__NOTOC__
A foreman, forewoman or foreperson is a supervisor, often in a manual trade or industry.
Foreman may specifically refer to:
*Construction foreman, the worker or tradesman who is in charge of a construction crew
* Jury foreman, a head j ...
of Triebert.
According to
Laila Storch
Laila Storch (February 28, 1921 – December 2, 2022) was an American oboist.
Biography
She was the first woman oboist to graduate from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she studied with Marcel Tabuteau.
Career
Storch was the principa ...
, Gillet encouraged Lorée to open his own company.
[Storch, Laila. "100 Years F. Lorée: 1881–1981." ''Journal of the International Double Reed Society'' 9 (June 1981): 28–42.] François Lorée and his son Adolphe Lucien Lorée worked with Gillet and made
F. Lorée
F. Lorée is a manufacturer of double reed musical instruments based in Paris, France. Lorée produces professional-level instruments in the oboe family under the brand ''F. Lorée'' and student-level oboes under the brand ''Cabart''.
F. Lorée ...
oboes one of the most popular brands manufactured.
Gillet quickly designated Lorée oboes as the required brand to be used by students attending the Paris Conservatory.
In 1906, Lorée's son, Lucien, collaborated with Gillet to create the "conservatory plateau system" oboe,
a style that is universally in use today.
Compositions
Gillet also composed a set of études titled ''Études pour L'enseignement Supérieur du Hautbois'', or Studies for the Advanced Teaching of the Oboe, which have become a standard part of oboe repertoire. In the introduction to the études, Gillet stated that he wrote the studies for his students in order to be able to play the increasingly difficult solo and orchestral repertoire for the oboe, and that composers should use the études as a rough guide to the technical possibilities of the oboe.
The études are in common use today.
Oboist
John de Lancie
John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); beginning with '' Star Trek: The Next Generation ...
used the étude book as the fourth and final book in his pedagogical progression for his students at the
Curtis Institute of Music.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillet, Georges
French classical oboists
Male oboists
19th-century classical musicians
19th-century classical composers
20th-century classical composers
1854 births
1920 deaths
People from Louviers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris
Male classical composers
20th-century French musicians
19th-century French musicians
Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery
Knights of the Legion of Honour
20th-century French male musicians
19th-century French male musicians