Tulou 4e Grand Solo op. 77

J.-L. Tulou

Quatrième Grand Solo op. 77

Anne Pustlauk, flute
Toby Sermeus, piano

2022

The 4th Grand Solo op. 77 was written by Jean-Louis Tulou for the concours at the Paris Conservatoire in 1838. In that year the students Louis-Alphonse Brunot and Alexis Donjon won a first price. Alexis Donjon was flutist at the Grand Théâtre in Lyon where he played at his father‘s side François who played the flute as well. Alexis‘ son Jean-Baptiste-Marie Donjon, also a flutist, studied at the Paris Conservatoire, too, and is known today for his flute compositions. Louis-Alphonse Brunot must have been an outstanding flutist. In the early 1850s he adopted the Boehm flute and played solo concerts over many years. He also performed duets together with Louis Dorus. There is only little known about the winner of the second price, Jean-Alphonse Mathieu. After his studies he must have returned to his home region around Avignon. He might have been teaching the flute in Nîmes.
The flute played in this video was made around 1830 by the Berlin workshop Grießling & Schlott. It is a nice example of how typical French features were adopted by foreign flute makers. The instrument looks very French due to its key design. The C-foot is similar to flutes by Laurent and especially Drouët, and the other keys resemble strongly a few flutes from the Godfroy workshop. The salt spoon key flaps and their pads, called elastic balls, where invented by the clarinettist Iwan Müller who produced his newly invented clarinets in Paris around 1809. Drouët adopted this key design for his flutes, made between 1818 and 1819 in London, and in 1822, Grießling & Schlott used the same design for their flutes.
A special feature is the F sharp-key (used to raise the pitch of the F sharp when it is the leading tone), which is positioned in line with the long F-key and is operated by the little finger of the left hand. I find this position much more convenient than the one of Tulou-flutes (opposite to the D sharp-key and operated by the little finger of the right hand). The size and shape of the embouchure hole as well as the diameter and taper of the flute are comparable to instruments from French workshops. The flute does, however, rather sound German, as it has a full low register and a fine third octave. The piano is a 1854 Pleyel.
More details and pictures of the flute on https://anne-pustlauk.de/1838-tulou-4...