Georges Waistcoat

Georges Vital Victor Waistcoat , born the May 17th 1854 with Louviers and died in 1920, is a hautboïste French virtuoso which formed in its class of oboe of the Conservatoire of Paris the majority of the hautboïstes of first half of the 20th century.

Biography

Its family having moved with Paris, it is in the capital that Georges begins his musical studies. Attracted by the wind instruments, it chooses to study the oboe in 1866 with the Academy of Paris but can reach the class of oboe directed then by Charles Colin only in 1868.

The destiny wants that the class of oboe changes hand of many times. Indeed, of 1863 with 1868, pas less than four great names of the oboe followed one another. (Stanislas Verroust, Charles-Louis Triébert, Felix-Charles Berthélémy and Charles Colin).

In June 1868, Georges Gillet obtains a first certificate of merit with the imposed part First solo of contest of Charles Colin and the Médaille of excellence of musical theory.

July 28th of the following year, it obtains at fifteen years a first price of oboe.

After his departure of the academy of Paris, Georges Gillet begins his career from hautboïste of orchestra in 1872 with the Theater-Italian for one two years duration, then integrates the Concerts Column until 1876. He enters then to the Société in the concerts of the Academy which he leaves in 1899.

He however forms part of the orchestra of the National theater of the Op3era Comique of 1878 to 1895 before becoming first oboe of the orchestra of the Opéra of Paris.

In 1879, following the creation of the Company of Chamber music for wind instruments , Georges Gillet works then steadily with famous the flutist Paul Taffanel during more than fifteen years.

Waistcoat takes part in all the concerts of the Company like first safe oboe in 1887, date on which it was in Russia with Taffanel, Charles Turban and Camille Saint-Saëns.

In 1881, Georges Gillet takes the continuation of his Master Charles Colin with the academy of Paris. He is at the time the youngest professor of oboe of this great institution. He used in his teaching the studies of Barret, Ferling, Luft and Brod. He publishes his famous 25 studies and contributes an important share to the teaching literature of the oboe. Created this same year, the Lorée house is named official supplier of the oboes of the academy.

The studies of Georges Gillet made move back the technical limits of the oboe, including the most difficult combinations of notes of the low register, the most complicated passages of acute, developing sentences all in octaves or in harmonics, pages devoted to the trilles, the chromatism or the stacato, remain still today a challenge for all the hautboïstes.

For the tacts, the fingering chart that Georges Gillet created to accompany its studies is one of the most reliable sources of reference for the hautboïste playing an oboe " system conservatoire".

Paradoxically, after a basic work on the teaching of the instrument, this virtuoso innovated by proposing like piece of contest almost only the works written by type-setters not hautboïstes. He was besides the dedicatee of the majority of these pieces of contest but also of many parts for oboe composed by Barthe, Godard, Dimert and Colomer.

Georges Gillet also made an important improvement on the oboe by replacing the system to rings by a system with plates thus allowing a simplified technique. He shared this performance with the factor of Lorée instrument which continued the experimentation until obtaining the final model in 1906.

He is the father of Fernand Gillet, also hautboïste.

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