Marcel Tabuteau First-Hand

MT era oboe

Original Artwork

The representations of Marcel Tabuteau pictured below are the only original artworks that have been submitted to date. If you possess or are aware of other original artworks depicting Marcel Tabuteau, please click Submissions so they can be uploaded to this website.

Caricatures

The above framed, signed caricature is by Alfred Bendiner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bendiner) often referred to as ‘the Hirschfeld of Philadelphia.’ It was given to Rowland Floyd, former principal oboist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra by Virginia Pleasants (A lifetime of great music for 100-year-old localite – Chestnut Hill Local …).

Virginia was a friend of Rowland’s wife, Cynthia Millman Floyd (Cynthia FLOYD, Department of Music, 1970-2003 | Faculty of Arts …). Virginia’s husband was the well-known Philadelphia music critic Henry Pleasants (Henry Pleasants – Wikipedia). Bendiner provided drawings for some of Pleasants’ music reviews for the Philadelphia Bulletin of which this is one. The artist most likely presented the critic with the caricature. Henry also knew Marcel Tabuteau, having often heard him, and wanted Rowland to have it. After Henry passed away, Virginia presented it to Rowland during one of her visits to Ottawa.  In 2016, Rowland presented it to his successor, Charles (Chip) Hamann (Charles Hamann | Biographies | National Arts Centre) along with a reed given to Rowland by Tabuteau when he studied with him in France. Only two examples of this image are presently known: the one above, and another given to the Curtis Institute of Music in 1976 by Elizabeth, the widow of Alfred Bendiner (below).

Marcel Tabuteau by Alfred Bendiner
Marcel Tabuteau by Alfred Bendiner, courtesy of the Curtis Institute of Music ©

The above caricature of Marcel Tabuteau by Alfred Bendiner is widely known and appears in Bendiner’s book of music luminaries: Music To My Eyes. The original hangs at the Curtis Institute.

Portraits

Portrait of Marcel Tabuteau by Rachel B. Trump
Portrait of Marcel Tabuteau
Artist: Rachel Bulley Trump
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1953 (Philadelphia)
Presently in the possession of the de Gourdon family
Portrait of Marcel Tabuteau by Istar de Clerck
Portrait of Marcel Tabuteau
Artist: Istar de Clerck
Date: 1917
Medium: Charcoal and white conté
Courtesy of Laila Storch and Martin Friedmann
The above portrait hung in Tabuteau’s teaching studio (see 4th studio photo). When Tabuteau retired and moved back to France, it was given to John de Lancie who later gifted it to Laila Storch.
Closeup of the artist's signature
Closeup of the artist's signature

Sketch

Laila Storch’s pencil sketch of Tabuteau returning home after shopping at the Reading Terminal Market (early 1940s) .
‘Marcel Tabuteau in Philadelphia’
Laila Storch’s pencil sketch of Tabuteau returning home after shopping at the Reading Terminal Market (early 1940s)

Newspaper Art

Sunday Bulletin, July 30, 1950
Courtesy John Minsker

Wood Carving

Wood Carving
The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 19, 1953. p. 39.

Sections

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What's New!

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.