Three later collections by Berbiguier – the Twelve National Airs with Variations, op. 106, the Souvenirs d'Un Voyageur -Twelve Melodies, and the 42 Airs Variés

Tranquille Berbiguier (1782-1838) was one of the most prominent of the flute virtuosi of the early nineteenth century. A flute student of Johann Georg Wunderlich at the Paris Conservatory, then in its infancy, he was reputed to have a powerful tone, and wrote a flute method that continued to be used for decades, as well as a set of exercises that are still known and used today. Unlike some of his continental contemporaries, whose works were little appreciated in England, his compositions were published in London, and he evidently produced items specifically for the British taste, including settings of the Scots and Irish tunes that were so popular in the hands of his British contemporary, Charles Nicholson.

Fétis notes that Berbiguier left Paris in 1813 to avoid a draft of 300,000 men for the Napoleonic army. Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in that year eventually led to his forced abdication in 1814, and exile to Elba. Berbiguier joined the Gardes du Corps in 1815, becoming a lieutenant, and served until 1819, when he resigned his commission, and returned to Paris. He married a Mademoiselle Plou (according to Fétis, one of the most skilled harpists of the time) in 1823. He once again left Paris in 1830 because of the revolution in which the Bourbon family was removed from the monarchy, and retired to live near his friend the cellist and composer Pierre Louis Hus-Deforges at Pont-Levoy, near Blois (about 200 km from Paris). Fétis reports that Berbiguier went to Hus-Deforges burial and said to their mutual friends "in eight days you will be here for me", which turned out to the be the case – Hus-Deforges died on Jan. 20, 1838, and Berbiguier on Jan. 29.

An article written not long after his death (published in the Wiener Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung, vol. 2, no. 123¹) discusses the development of the French flute school, and states that "never was so much written especially for the flute as at the end of the eighteenth century". The author (G.M.) names Hugot, Devienne and Wunderlich as the three leading figures at this time. The next generation (the Empire and the Restoration) brought Tulou, Berbiguier, Drouet and Guillou. Berbiguier, he says, "wrote much excellent music for this instrument, which he was unable to successfully present as a performer." Among the present generation (1842), G.M. names Camus, Coche, Leplus, and Rémuzat, as well as another half-dozen renowned flutists.

It is worth sharing here two contrasting works lists presented by his contemporaries, to get a sense of his production, and how it was viewed at the time. First, from Fétis:

It is worth noting that there is no mention of works for unaccompanied flute (the list was published in 1835). The Biographie des Hommes du jour....(vol. 3, pp 148-149), by Germain Sarrut, published in 1837 also provides a works list, as follows:

This list includes at least one of the collections discussed below, most likely op. 106, since the writer notes that the contents are English, German and Italian airs, and notes specifically that it is for unaccompanied flute (flûte seule). Neither the Souvenirs nor the 42 Airs appear, the latter certainly being too new to be included.

Three late and little-known collections of music for unaccompanied flute by Berbiguier are held in part at the Hitchcock Collection, the remarkable resource for flute music held at the library of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. These are the Twelve National Airs with Variations, op. 106 (for which the library has nos. 2, 5, and 11), the Souvenirs d'un Voyageur (Twelve Melodies with Variations) for which the library seems to have the unique surviving copies – nos. 1, 3, 4, 10 and 12, and the 42 Airs Variés, etc. (held complete at the Hitchcock collection). The first two were published by R. Cocks & Co, at 20 Princes St., Hanover Sq., London, and the latter in Paris by Schonenberger. The table of contents for each follows.

A:

B:

C:

For op. 106, the Yale University Library holds numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missing 3, 6, 7, 12); the Dutch Royal Library has 1,2,4,6,10,11,12 (missing 3, 5, 8-10). As noted above, the Hitchcock collection has nos. 2, 5, and 11. Between these libraries only 3 is unaccounted for. We are lucky to be able to date op. 106 quite exactly, as it was advertised as just published in the Harmonicon of June 1831. In the same advertisement we are also informed of the title for no. 2 (the Portuguese Air) which is given as ""Flow on thou shining river".

There seems to be no surviving external reference to the Souvenirs. The plate number suggests a later date, likely to be between 1831 and the composer's demise in January 1838. R. Cocks published a collection of piano music by Charles Chaulieur (op. 142-143) under the same title, which was already advertised in Oct. 1832 in The Harmonicon.

The 42 Airs can be dated with some certainty to the very last year of Berbiguier's life, that is, to 1837. It is advertised in the list of musique nouvelle publiée par Schonenberger (p. 108 of the Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris, vol. 4, 1837) thus : 42 airs, rondos et fantaisie pour la flute seule, sur des airs d'Adam, Mercadante, Bellini, H. Herz, Rossini, 4 suites chaque 4 fr. 50 c. followed by his Op. 134, Preludes pour la flute, deux suites chaque 7 50. This collection, although to judge from the title page it should be similar to the previous two in containing "airs variés", that is popular tunes with sets of variations, is in fact more similar to a modern set of "orchestral excerpts", that is, music from the concert repertoire which has been presented without additional adornment or transformation into a derivative work. The only variation set included is no. 22, which presents the theme "The Last Rose of Summer" with two variations. One might conjecture that this collection was prepared as teaching material for his students in Pontlevoy.

Notes on the contents of the Twelve National Airs with Variations, op. 106 and the Souvenirs d'Un Voyageur. Twelve Melodies.

Download notes on the contents in PDF format.

Notes:

1. A more elaborate version of the same text is published in Magazin: Monatsschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Kultur, Volumes 21-22, p. 484

2. Fétis, Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, p. 142

Tom Moore is a journalist, musician, and translator living in Rio de Janeiro. He has recorded Telemann for Lyrichord (USA) and Boismortier for A Casa Discos (Brazil). He writes about music for BrazilMax, Musica Brasileira, 21st Century Music, Opera Today, Flute Talk, Sonograma, Early Music America, and other venues.