22 Facts About Marcel Moyse

Marcel Moyse played principal flute in various Paris orchestras and appeared widely as a soloist and made many recordings.

Marcel Moyse taught on the faculty of the Conservatoire de musique du Quebec a Montreal, and was a founder of the Marlboro Music School and festival in Vermont.

Marcel Moyse strove to teach his students "not how to play the flute, but to make music".

Marcel Moyse moved to Paris in 1904 to live with his uncle, Joseph Moyse.

Marcel Moyse depended on his uncle to interpret Parisian life and to guide him in determining his place in it.

Marcel Moyse had told his uncle that he wanted to be a sculptor, so Joseph enrolled him in a drawing class at the Ecole Boule, however Joseph intended to find him a flute teacher.

Taffanel was looked upon highly and although by the time Marcel Moyse had him as a teacher, Taffanel was sixty and retired from playing, Marcel Moyse's time with Taffanel was invaluable.

Marcel Moyse immediately grasped the standard repertoire required for admittance into the Conservatoire.

Under the guidance of Hennebains and with the approval of Taffanel, Marcel Moyse auditioned for and won a place in the flute class at the Paris Conservatoire in the fall of 1905.

In 1906 with only one year of Conservatoire training, Marcel Moyse performed the newly written exam piece, Nocturne et Allegro scherzando by Philippe Gaubert.

At the age of seventeen, Marcel Moyse accepted the first prize and was deemed ready for a professional career.

Marcel Moyse had become one of a handful of flutists in the history of the Conservatoire to qualify for a first prize in one year, but his playing lacked polish, and he knew it.

In 1913, Marcel Moyse toured the United States with operatic soprano Nellie Melba in her private train.

Marcel Moyse was principal flute soloist in Paris's Opera Comique and simultaneously, in order to prove himself, applied for the solo flute position at the Paris Opera.

Marcel Moyse's career continued to flourish, and he became the first flutist with the orchestra of the Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire.

In 1931, Moyse was teaching in Geneva when the flutist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Marcel Welsch, committed suicide.

From its conception in 1934, the Marcel Moyse Trio performed and recorded for the next 20 years.

In 1932, Marcel Moyse succeeded Philippe Gaubert as Professor at the Paris Conservatoire and in addition, was appointed Professor at the Geneva Conservatoire from 1933 to 1949, which entailed a weekly trip to Geneva.

Marcel Moyse never failed to visit his adoptive mother when he passed by St Amour.

Marcel Moyse became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour for his artistic contributions as a musician, and he traveled widely, performing in most of the major European cities, which included several performances and recordings in London.

Marcel Moyse died on November 1,1984, at the age of 95, and was cremated in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Marcel Moyse's ashes were buried in the cemetery of St Amour Church in Jura, France, in August 1985.