Virtuoso series no.1

Hello, my esteemed colleagues and friends,

today's topic may seem random but in my search for what to play for my lessons, I found the Schulhoff flute sonata (actually I heard a colleague play it, thank you dear 😊). I immediately fell in love. When I got the scores I saw that that sonata was written for today's person of interest Rene Le Roy.

At some point in my studies I heard that name but, was too lazy/busy (as we mostly are) to find more about him until now, so to spare you some time, in the limited amount of information about him out there, here is my take.

Rene Le Roy

French flutist born on 04.03.1898. His childhood was full of music, his father was playing the flute as a hobby, and his mother played the piano for leisure.

In 1906. he took up flute lessons with his father, and showed great talent and will to play and study.

That's why in 1916. he started his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Adolphe Hennebains and Léopold Lafleurance, and later on with Philippe Gaubert.

In 1918. he won the premier prix for flute. Just a year later he became Gaubert's successor at the Société des instruments à vent de Paris. He was a soloist and chamber music player who recorded a lot of music.

Later on, he gathered great musicians and (1922.) founded the Quintette Instrumental de Paris, which consisted of a flute, harp, and string trio. They had many composers who wrote for them.

1929. Le Roy went to America where he got acquainted with Roosevelt (Franklin Delano Roosevelt; 1882.-1945.; 32nd president of the United States).

1946. was the year when he helped Edgar Varese (1883.-1965.; a French composer) revise the Density 21.5 which was originally written for Edgar's close friend Georges Barerre (1876.-1944.; a French flutist, pedagog, and virtuoso; more about him in some other post). The first recording of this piece was in 1949 (link to the recording: (8) Density 21.5 - YouTube).

1952. Rene got a position as a professor at the Paris Conservatory for chamber music. During his teaching career, his students included Christine Alicot, Juho Alvas, Thomas Brown, Susan Morris DeJong, Geoffrey Gilbert (more about him some other time), and Bassam Saba. Also his contributio to the flute pedagogy is publication of the flute method Traité de la flûte, historique, technique et pédagogique (with Claude Dorgeuille; 1966.).

Besides him being a professor of chamber music at Paris Conservatory, from 1952.-1968. René Le Roy was a solo flute at the New York City Opera Orchestra

03.01.1985. was the day when Rene Le Roy died near Paris.

Not only he left his mark as a pedagog and a flutist he is also a reason for several composers, like Vincent d'Indy, Alber Roussel, Joseph Jongen, and Cyril Scott (...), decided to dedicate their works to him and/or his ensambles.

That would be it for my short biography of the great Rene Le Roy, I will leave some of the links to the recordings that I found below.

So my dear people,

have a nice day and a good practice session,

sincerely yours,

LB

Links to the recordings:

Honegger - Danse de la Chevre: (8) Honegger - Danse de la Chevre - Rene Le Roy (flute) - YouTube

Bach - Sonata for piano and flute in E-flat major: (8) Bach - Sonata for piano and flute - Kathleen Long & Rene Le Roy - YouTube

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) - Flute and Harp Concerto in C major K299: (8) Mozart: Flute and Harp Concerto in C major K299 - René Le Roy; Lili Laskine; Thomas Beecham - YouTube

that is just a few of them, if you'd like to know more, just contact me.