Philippe Gaubert (5 July 1879 – 8 July 1941) was a French musician who was a distinguished performer on the flute, a respected conductor and a composer, primarily for the flute.[1]
Biography
Gaubert – commonly referred to as Gauberto – was born in Cahors but moved to Paris with his parents when he was six. His mother, who worked as a housekeeper, occasionally cleaned the apartment of Paul Taffanel, who began teaching Philippe the flute. Taffanel was Professor of Flute at the Paris Conservatoire, and Gaubert began studying there in 1893, aged 13.[2]
He became one of the most prominent French musicians between the two World Wars. After a prominent career as a flautist with the Paris Opéra, he was appointed in 1919, at the age of forty, to three positions that placed him at the very centre of French musical life:
Gaubert's playing can be heard on a series of recordings for the French Gramophone Company in 1919.[1]
His Méthode complète for flute, a collaboration with Taffanel, was published in 1923.
Journalist Jean Bouzerand, Gaubert's friend, convinced the town of Cahors to create a public garden in Gaubert's honour near the river Lot in the late 1930s.[citation needed]