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An audio interview with Joan Browne (Champie), a private Tabuteau student in the early 1950s.
A photograph of the music stand that was in Tabuteau’s private studio in Philadelphia.
An autographed photo of Marcel Tabuteau inscribed to Vladimir Sokoloff.
An autographed photo of Marcel Tabuteau inscribed to Joan Browne Champie.
With the passing of Wilbur Isaac Hilles in August 2023 and now Martha Scherer-Alfee in February 2024, no oboe students of Marcel Tabuteau at the Curtis Institute are still living.
A letter sent to the Curtis Institute by Laila Storch’s mother about Tabuteau not teaching at Curtis—and the reply.
9 Responses
I do not know who to thank for this superb new website, but to all concerned, you have done a magnificent thing here. I am enjoying this immensely. Eric Barr
Wow! This is a spectacular website. Thank you to everyone who’s energy has made it come to life! I have hours of reading to do!
Jennifer Weeks
A wonderful job of assembling so much of the legendary material associated with the Master. Thank you!
After re-checking the dates, it appears that my father bought la Coustiero from Mr Tabuteau in 1959.
Around 1963, my father. Jacques Sassy purchased La Coustiero from Mr Tabuteau. The house, rather a mansion, was very big and typical of the south of France style, with green shades and orange painted walls. It had a direct access to a little creek, some 80 steps below, where you could swim in the beautiful mediterranean sea. It had a square tower and about 10 bedrooms. The land around was all pine trees, very quiet because totally remote from the closest village which is called Le Brusc. From the front of the house which is situated at the very end of Cap Sicié, you could see the immensity of the sea. Mr and Mrs Tabuteau had left two dogs, german shepperds, Boss and Derring, which were taken care of by the Jean Baglione who was the guardian of the property. Jean stayed with us for a long time, and became part of the familly. There was a big piece of furniture in one of the living rooms. It had many drawers. In one of them, as I was about eight years old and wandering around our new home, I found a baton that must have belonged to Mr Tabuteau. I was instantly convinced that music was going to be my future, and that is exactly what happened. Today, While randomly searching the internet, I found some pictures of Mr Tabuteau taken at La Coustiero and just wanted to share these very touching memories, and thank Marcel Tabuteau for inspiring me to live a life of music.
Many (many!) years ago I found the 2 LP recording of Mr. Tabuteau’s lessons and excerpts at Patelson’s. I must have played it 20 or 30 times. I can’t say that I mastered the system, but I aspired to be a better player because of what I heard. This site is a welcome addition to those and other, resources. Thanks for making it available!
If by chance you read this I would like to thank you for posting the interview of my father – John Mack. He is missed terribly and just know the Tabuteau stories live on at his Oboe Camp.
This is the most amazing website and a wonderful discovery! It is packed with all kinds of interesting material for musicians and aspiring musicians. Huge thanks to all the contributors.
I have included a link to this website in my mother’s (Joan Browne Shallin, now Joan Champie) Caringbridge page as she is now newly entered into hospice care. Joan studied with Tabuteau from 1952 to 1954. Incidentally, she also did a great imitation of him asking her in a French accent why she wanted to play the oboe, why not ballet where they were hiring women. I heard all the stories growing up. But her respect for Tabuteau was enormous and in the dark moments at the beginning of her illness in June, it was Tabuteau that we talked about to get her mind off her condition.