Maurice André

Maurice André entered the world on May 21, 1933, in Alès near Nîmes, France, where his father worked as a coal miner who also played trumpet. The elder André instructed his son on the instrument, instilling remarkable stamina in performance, and the youth himself entered the mines as an apprentice at fourteen, continuing there until he turned eighteen. His brother Raymond likewise took up the trumpet and later shared concert stages with him.

In 1951 André gained admission to the Paris Conservatory, where he trained under Sabarich and Barthélémy. He captured first prize in cornet after his initial year and repeated the achievement on trumpet the following year. Between 1953 and 1960 he performed with the Lamoureux Orchestra, from 1953 to 1962 with the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and from 1962 to 1967 with the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique, all while appearing in jazz ensembles.

A first-prize victory at the 1955 international competition in Geneva preceded an even more decisive triumph at the International Music Competition of the German Radio in Munich in 1963, an event that propelled him into a solo career without precedent. His American debut occurred as soloist with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra during its tour of the United States. From that point forward he maintained a vigorous schedule of concerts, tours, and recordings that encompassed trumpet literature from the Baroque era through contemporary avant-garde works.

André became a leading advocate for Baroque trumpet music and played a central role in establishing the small piccolo trumpet pitched in D or E-flat as the preferred instrument for that repertoire. He produced nearly three hundred recordings, among them more than thirty concertos, and commissioned new pieces for the instrument from Jolivet, Blacher, and Tomasi. His performances combined the expected qualities of brilliance, power, and stamina with an engagingly warm and genial platform manner.

Fascinated by the full range of trumpet designs and makers, he assembled a personal collection of nearly one hundred instruments and created a four-valved piccolo trumpet built by Selmer that gained widespread adoption among leading performers. He served as a consultant to Selmer until January 1973. In 1967 he succeeded his former teacher Sabarich as professor of trumpet at the Paris Conservatory.