Notes for: July 29, 2025
Today’s concert gets off to a cheerful start with this Trio from the French composer and woodwind instrumentalist François Devienne. There’s an elegant portrait in the Library of Congress by Jacque Louis David of Devienne holding a flute. That David would paint Devienne’s portrait attests to the importance of this gifted French musician, who during his lifetime enjoyed a Europe-wide reputation as a brilliant woodwind composer and performer.
Devienne was a child prodigy who gave the word “workaholic” new meaning. From an early age he threw himself into music, studying and performing on the bassoon, the flute, and the oboe. According to one observer, “Quite unlike other children, who have to be promised money if you want to get them to do anything, Devienne would leave off work only when his brother had given him few écus, on condition that he would go and enjoy himself.” By the time has was 20, he was playing bassoon in the Paris Opera Orchestra and writing the first of his more than 300 instrumental compositions, a body of work that included concertos for flute and bassoon, 21 flute quartets, and many other virtuosic chamber works for wind instruments. In addition, he wrote several popular comic operas. A central figure in Parisian musical circles, his packed days included composing, performing his own works, playing in a number of orchestras, and teaching. He wrote a treatise on flute technique that became an influential instructional guide, and he was the first to be named professor of flute in the new French Conservatoire. Perhaps not surprisingly, eventually the frenetic pace took its toll, and he died at 44 “from a mental derangement which had degenerated into true madness,” according to an obituary.
Although during his lifetime he was lauded as “the Mozart of the flute,” Devienne’s compositions for that instrument drifted into relative obscurity until the flutist Jean Pierre Rampal revived them in the 1960s. Among the rediscovered treasures is this Trio in E-Flat Major, the last of a set of Six Trios for Flute, Viola, and Cello. Like the others in the set, this one is a deft two-movement work marked by melodious writing and elegant phrasing. From the opening measures, the Trio demonstrates Devienne’s gift for melody – it’s clear why his name was associated with Mozart’s during his lifetime. The melodies flow, supported by uncomplicated harmonies. The flute takes the lead in much of the first movement, which is filled with cheerful runs and playful interactions. The chipper second-movement Rondo includes a viola solo, a minor-key episode, and a pleasing cello ostinato. Overall, it’s a work of easy charm from a flute virtuoso.