Arban, (Joseph) Jean-Baptiste (Laurent)

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Arban, (Joseph) Jean-Baptiste (Laurent)

Arban, (Joseph) Jean-Baptiste (Laurent), French cornetist, conductor, and pedagogue; b. Lyons, Feb. 28, 1825; d. Paris, April 9, 1889. He settled in Paris, where he studied trumpet with Dauverné at the Cons. (1841–15). He was active as a conductor in salon orchs. and at the Opéra. In 1857 he became prof. of saxhorn at the École Militaire. In 1869 he established the cornet class at the Cons., which he taught until 1874 and again from 1880 until his death. From 1873 he made annual visits to St. Petersburg as a conductor. Arban founded the modern school of cornet and trumpet playing in France, and was the author of the standard treatise Grande méthode complète pour cornet à pistons et de saxhorn (Paris, 1864). He also made a brilliant arrangement of the Carnival of Venice for cornet. Among his other works are a Fantasie brillante and variations on themes from Bellini’s Norma and Verdi’s La traviata.

Bibliography

J.-P. Mathez, J.J.-B.L A. (1825–1889) (Moudon, 1977).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire