Biography
A French flutist, Drouet trained in composition under Mehul and Reicha. By sixteen he held the post of official flutist to the King of Holland and soon afterward achieved recognition in Paris. Preferring movement to any fixed residence, he cultivated the identity of a traveling virtuoso whose technical command arrived ahead of him in each new city. London audiences greeted him with particular enthusiasm for his precision and control. Pulled from an early retirement by Mendelssohn, he resumed concertizing and revisited London before continuing to Paris, Gotha, New York, and Frankfort. Although the remainder of his output carried little lasting musical weight, his “Cent etudes pour la flute” (100 studies for the flute) was reissued repeatedly for the practical benefit it offered aspiring players.