Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was a French flautist, teacher, and conductor. He was born in Bordeaux, France, where he studied music with his father from a young age. He demonstrated remarkable talent on the flute, so much so that his family moved to Paris, so he could study at the Paris Conservatory with Louis Dorus. He graduated at sixteen with the top prize in flute in 1860. Upon graduating, Taffanel carved out a successful performance career for himself. He performed in the Paris Opéra and the Société des concerts du Conservatoire and organized a chamber music society for wind players, where he played and programmed both early and contemporary music. He also performed frequently as a soloist; many composers of the time even dedicated works to him, including Fauré, Enescu, and Widor.

Taffanel was also active as both a conductor and composer. In 1890, he transitioned from playing flute to conducting at both the Opéra and the Société des concerts du Conservatoire, where he frequently premiered works by modern composers such as Verdi, Wagner, and Saint-Saëns. As a composer, he published several works for flute, including Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino, Fantaisie sur thèmes du Freischütz and Grande Fantaisie sur Mignon, all of which are still frequently performed today. He also composed a major woodwind quintet, Quintet in G minor, which remains a staple in the repertoire for that ensemble.

Taffanel’s largest contribution to music, however, was as a professor. In 1893, he became the professor of flute at the Paris Conservatory, where he revamped both the teaching methods and the approach to flute playing. While still incorporating the traditional masterclass, he allowed the students to receive more individual instruction, and encouraged them to study Baroque music and Mozart rather than only nineteenth century virtuosic works. He is attributed with founding the French Flute School of playing, in which players had a lighter, more sparing use of vibrato as well as a strong, smooth sound that remained even throughout all registers of the flute. He even began developing a method book for flute students that was later completed by his student Phillippe Gaubert and is still an essential part of modern flute education. Other important students of his include Louis Fleury, Georges Barrere, and Marcel Moyse. After a long and influential career, Taffanel died in 1908.

Photo: Bibliothèque Nationale de France