Eugène Bourdeau: Premier Solo (1894)

00:00 - I. Premier Solo: Moderato
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Bassoon: Mathieu Lussier
Piano: Francis Perron
Year of Recording: 2020
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"Eugène Bourdeau, born 14 June 1850, was professor at the Paris Conservatoire (1892-1902) who extended on the work of Jancourt. In the early portion of his career, he competed and won the Second Medal (1865), Second Prize (1867) and First Prize (1868) in the Solo de Concour contests. Bourdeau found success with his bassoon career when he became principal bassoon of the Opéra Comique in 1888 and stayed with the group until 1902. Shortly after being appointed with the Opéra Comique, Bourdeau was appointed professor of bassoon at the Paris Conservatoire in 1892 and stayed until 1902. While working at the Conservatoire, Bourdeau produced masses, motets, and solo repertoire for the bassoon. He completed three bassoon tutors during his tenure at the Conservatoire: Complete Grand Method, Collection of Scales and chords (1894/95), and 30 etudes. Bourdeau’s tutors further extended Ozi and Jancourt’s tutors and included an updated fingering chart, a different set of technical and lyrical exercises, and instructions on reed making and maintenance. While Bourdeau’s technical and lyrical exercises were not as long as Jancourt and Ozi’s, his exercises were more harmonically complex. Bourdeau’s tutor differed from Ozi and Jancourt because the French bassoon became standardized and customizable during his time at the Conservatoire. The French bassoon of the late nineteenth-century saw an official standardization of Jancourt’s key work and French reed style. As a result, Bourdeau’s tutor explored these finalized elements of the French instrument while emphasizing the fundamentals of his predecessors.

Along with his methods for bassoon, Bourdeau produced three solos for bassoon and pianoforte (1907, 1908 and 1911). These solos were composed as examination pieces for the Paris Conservatoire. His solo works were not as technically challenging as Ozi or Jancourt. Instead, his solo works started off with a simple melodic idea and then branched off into different technical variations of the theme leading up to brilliant and simple finishing phrase. By combining simple and complex elements in his examination pieces, students had opportunities to showcase what skills they mastered and show what skills needed more work in the following
semester." (Gina Michelle Moore)
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