René Louis Gabriel Voisin (19 November 1893 – 16 January 1952), was a French

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and a member of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

trumpet section for 24 years. He was also father and teacher to Roger Voisin, the trumpet player and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

who would later become principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony.

Biography

René Louis Gabriel Voisin was born on 19 November 1893 in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, France. Voisin was a student of Pierre Vignal (1879–1943) at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

. Whilst in Paris, Voisin worked as a freelance musician, and played in the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's ''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...

''; here he also became friends with conductor Sergei Koussevitzky and played with the ''

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 phi ...

'' between 1920 and 1928. Koussévitzky later succeeded

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and brought Voisin to the Boston Symphony as fourth trumpet in 1928. Voisin was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra trumpet section for 24 years, between 1928 and his death in 1952.

References

1893 births 1952 deaths 20th-century French classical musicians 20th-century French male musicians 20th-century French trumpeters French classical trumpeters French emigrants to the United States French male trumpeters Musicians from Angers {{trumpeter-stub