L'Age d'or of the Chamber Wind Ensemble

Abstract

This document presents a narrative history of the chamber wind ensembles led by Paul Taffanel, Georges Barrère and Georges Longy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using different historical approaches, this study examines contemporaneous musical society and the chamber wind ensemble genre to explore the context and setting for the genesis of the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vents, the Société moderne des instruments à vents, the Longy Club and the Barrère Ensemble of Wind Instruments. A summary of each ensemble leader's life and description of the activities of the ensemble, selected repertoire and press reactions towards their performances provide essential insights on each ensemble. In demonstrating their shared origins, ideologies, and similarities in programming philosophies, this document reveals why these chamber wind ensembles created a musical movement, a golden age or age d'or of wind chamber music, affecting the local music scene and continuing to hold influence on today's performers of wind music.