Collinet

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Elder Collinet
3. Hubert Collinet, the Younger
   1. Early years in London and Musard
   2. Later Years and Jullien
   3. Other Activities
   4. Status in Popular Culture
   5. “Portrait” by Dantan
4. Source: Fétis “Biographie Universelle Des Musiciens”

Introduction

Two French flageolet virtuosi, a father and son, are known by the name Collinet. Unfortunately, very little is known about either. Most of our knowledge about their lives stem from their entry in the 1837 Biographie Universelle Des Musiciens et Bibliography Générale de La Musique. by François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871) (reproduced below. Although their are numerous mentions of the younger Collinet in 19^th newspapers, due to him finding fame in touring the UK and America, these only provide the briefest sketch of his life. Equally unfortunately is the fact that very few pieces by either performer are currently known to survive.

The Elder Collinet

Fétis informs us that Collinet began his career as a flutist at the Théâtre des Variétés before changing to the flageolet. Following the addition of extra keys, he was able to play it “with a level of skill previously unknown” and was therefore encouraged by Julien Charchies, the director of the Orchestre de Contredanses, to apply his skill to dance music. The result was apparently such a success that soon “no-one wanted to dance in Paris without the sound of Collinet”.

In addition to playing and teaching, the elder Collinet seems to earned a living arranging orchestras for balls and selling dance music at his homes.

He is reported to have published a number of pieces, of which only a few appear to have survived. These include two concertos for flageolet and orchestra and a quartet for flageolet, violin, viola and ’cello as well as a large number of dances for various ensembles and solos and duets for the flageolet.

Hubert Collinet,the Younger

The younger Collinet is perhaps more famous outside of France than his father, although, again little is known about his life. Fétis suggests that he was born in Paris in around 1797. His first name was generally unknown in the 19^th Century, although the Paris Conservatoire (and a number of other sources) have identified it as Hubert. One website, Flutes De Tambourin, suggests that he died in 1867, though this seems unconfirmed. Publications which describe his physique almost always make reference to his shortness.

According to Fétis, the younger Collinet surpassed his father in the art of playing the flageolet as he could play the instrument with “more taste and more elegance” albeit without the ability to surpass his father’s skill in executing the most difficult pieces.

Early Years in Musard and London

Collinet appears to have first visited England in around 1819 and appears to have spent the 1820s and 1830s playing for society balls either with his own or Philippe Musard’s (1793–1859) orchestra. However, he seems never to have become a regular member of the latter’s orchestra; an article in the Caledonian Mercury dated 30^th November 1843 (19323) notes that: “in addition to the best of their old troops [Musard and the directors] have secured a considerable accession of new force, at the head of which stands, prominant, M. Collinet of London and Paris, the unrivalled performer on the flageolet…M. Collinet’s engagement, we regret to hear, is only for a short period.”

Much of Collinet’s time during this period was still spent in Paris, living in 1822 in 35 rue de l’Arbre-Sec although by 1835 he had moved to to 52 St. Augustin. An advert in the 1822 Bibliographie Musicale reveals that in this period he was importing William Bainbridge’s flútes doubles and flageolets doubles perfectionnés into France suggesting at least some interaction between the two men.

Later Years and Jullien

From 1841, Collinet began to perform with the flamboyant Parisian conductor Louise Antonie Jullien (1812–1860), generally being mentioned as the second soloist after the cornetist Hermann Kœnig. The last mention of him playing with Musard is in 1844 and from then on he appears to have taken an active part in Jullien’s many tours, including a tour of America in 1853.

It is not clear what happened to him in later years. The final concert advert mentioning him, so far discovered, dates from 1857, although as this year was the start of Jullien’s final descent into bankruptcy and insanity, not too much can be safely inferred from the lack of subsequent adverts. One possibility is that he could have returned to Paris to concentrate on other activities, especially if he had been burnt by Jullien’s financial misadventures.

Other Activities

Collinet was also involved in the sale of musical instruments. A number of woodwind instruments (including a French flageolet in the Musée des Instruments à Vent in La Couture-Boussey) survive which are stamped “Collinet”, although it is not clear to what extent he was involved in their production. Until the start of the 20^th Century dictionaries of music would often give the term “Collinet” as synonym for “flageolet” which might suggest that he was involved in a design of a special type of instrument. Certainly, in his Handbook for the instrument he remarks that “only two Keys are ever used by really competent players, and that one key alone is sufficient for most passages” and thus advocates a design which is unusual for the mid–19^th Century and which appears not to have been produced by other manufacturers.

Status in Popular Culture

It is not easy to underestimate the level of fame achieved by Collinet, in comparison to any other flageolet player and he is occasionally mentioned in poems and other popular literature of the period. For example:

Airs of Haut-ton
At home.
I.
Invitations I will write,
All the world I will invite.
I will deign to show civility,
To the tip tops of gentility;
To the cream of the nobility,
I’m “at home” next Monday night.
II.
See my footman, how he runs!
Ev’ry paltry street he shuns,
I’m “at home” to peers and peeresses,
Who reside in squares and terraces,
I’m “at home” to heirs and heiresses,
And, of course, to eldest sons.
III.
I’m “at home” to all the set,
Of exclusives I have met.
If a rival open has her doors,
All the coronets shall pass her doors,
I’m “at home” to the Ambassadors,
Though their names I quite forgot.
IV.
I’m “at home” to guardsmen all,
Be they short, or be they tall;
I’m “at home” to men political,
Poetical and critical,
And the punning men of wit, I call
Acquisitions at a ball.
V.
Oh! the matchless Collinet,
On his flageolet shall play;
How I love to hear the thrill of it !
Pasta’s song think what she will of it,
He will make a quick quadrille of it,
“Dove sono,”-dance away.

-Thomas Haynes Bayly, c. 1840

or, at the start of The Ball by John Nicholson (pub. 1859):

The Ball Room emulates the light of day—
All there is mirth, and ev’ry one is gay;
Each instrument to finest tones is set,
For leader of the quadrilles is Collinet.

“Portrait” by Dantan

Jean Pierre Dantan (1800–1860) produced a number of was caricature sculptures of notable musicians of his day. The original sculpture (perhaps dating from 1833) is probably in the collection of the Musée Carnavalet in Paris although engravings of it are held by a variety of art galleries and the Paris Conservatoire. To what extent it reflects reality is hard to ascertain! There is at least one other portrait of Collinet, painted by R.G. Sweeting and exhibited at the 1838 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, though its whereabouts are currently unknown.

Source: François-Joseph Fétis, 1831, Biographie Universelle Des Musiciens et Bibliography Générale de La Musique.

Collinet (. . .), virtuose sur le flageolet, fut d'abord admis comme flûtiste au théâtre des Variétés, puis se livra à l'étude du flageolet, perfectionna cet instrument en y ajoutant des clefs, et parvint à en jouer avec une habileté inconnue avant lui. Julien Clarchies, qui ent long-temps de la célébrité pour son talent de directeur d'orchestre de contredanses, engages Collinet à appliquer son instrument à ce genre de musique; celui-ci goûta ses conseils, et bientôt la vogue dont il jouit fut telle qu'on ne voulut plus danser à Paris qu'au son du flageolet de Colliqet. On a decet artiste:

• 1° Deux concertos pour flageolet et orchestre, Paris, chez l'auteur;
• 2° Un quatuor pour flageolet, violon, alto et violoncelle , Ibid.;
• 3° Deux livres de duos pour deux flageolets, Ibid.;
• 4° Plusieurs recueils d'airs variés pour deux flageolets, Ibid.;
• 5° Plusieurs recueils de contredanses et valses pour flageolet, violon et basse, ou flageolet et piano, Paris, Langlois, Collinet, Frère et Meissonier;
• 6° Des exercices, des préludes et des pots-pourris pour flageolet seul;
• 7° Une méthod de flageolet dont it a été fait deux éditions, Paris Collinet.

Collinet (. . .), fils du précédent, né à Paris, vers 1797, a suprassé son père dabs l'art de jouer du flageolet. It y a dans son jeu plus de goût, plus d'élégance, sinon plus d'habileté dans l'exécution des traits difficiles. It joue les solos de flageolet dans le bel orchestre de danse organisé par M. Musard, et dans le bals de la cour. It est aussi marchand de musique et d'instrumens.