20th century
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Gaubert Philippe
Aitken, Robert
Amirov, Fikret
Amlin, Martin
Amram, David
Andriessen, Jurriaan
Arnold, Malcolm
Arrieu, Claude
Auric, Georges
Babbit, Milton
Bacchus, Peter
Bacri, Nicolas
Baker, Michael Conway
Baksa, Robert
Barber, Samuel
Barrere, Georges
Bartók, Béla Viktor János
Baton, René-Emmanuel
Beaser, Robert
Bennet, Richard Rodney
Berg, Gunnar
Berio, Luciano
Bernofsky, Lauren
Bernstein, Leonard
Bloch, Ernest
Bolling, Claude
Bon, Maarten
Bonis, Mel
Boughton, Rutland
Boulanger, Marie-Juliette
Boulez, Pierre
Bourdin, Roger
Bournonville, Armand
Bowen, Edwin York
Bozza, Eugène Joseph
Bréville, Pierre
Brings, Allen
Brotons, Salvador
Brown, Elizabeth
Brun, Georges
Burkhard, Willy
Burton, Eldin
Büsser, Henri
Camus, Pierre
Carmichael, John
Carter, Elliott
Casella, Alfredo
Chaynes, Charles
Clarke, Ian
Colgrass, Michael
Colquhoun, Michael
Copland, Aaron
Corigliano, John
Cortese, Luigi
Currier, Sebastian
Dahl, Walter Ingolf Marcus
Damase, Jean-Michel
Davidovsky, Mario
De Lorenzo, Leonardo
Debussy, Claude
Del Tredici, David
DeLaney, Charles Oliver
Delerue, Georges
Denisov, Edison
Dèsbriere, Jacques
Dick, Robert
Dinicu, Grigoraș
Dodgson, Stephen
Dohnányi, Ernő
Dubois, Pierre Max
Dukas, Paul
Durey, Louis
Dutilleux, Henri
Enescu, George
Farkas, Ferenc
Feld, Jindřich
Ferroud, Pierre-Octave
Flothuis, Marius
Folio, Cynthia
Foote, Arthur
Foss, Lukas
Françaix, Jean
Fukushima, Kazuo
Gade, Jacob
Gál, Hans
Gaubert, Philippe
Genzmer, Harald
George, Thom Ritter
Ghidoni, Armando
Gieseking, Walter
Glass, Philip
Glière, Reinhold
Golovin, Andrei
Gordeli, Otar
Grier, Lita
Griffes, Charles Tomlinson
Grinblat, Romuald
Grovlez, Gabriel
Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo
Gubajdulina, Sofia
Hahn, Reynaldo
Hailstork, Adolphus
Halphen, Fernand
Hanson, Howard Harold
Harberg, Amanda
Harbison, John
Harsányi, Tibor
Harty, Hamilton
Heiss, John
Heith, David
Henze, Hans-Werner
Higdon, Jennifer
Hindemith, Paul
Holliger, Heinz
Holmboe, Vagn
Honegger, Arthur
Hoover, Katherine
Hosokawa, Toshio
Hovhaness, Alan
Hüe, Georges Adolphe
Hurel, Philippe
Ibert, Jacques
Ichiyanagi, Toshi
Ittzés, Gergely
Ives, Charles
Jacob, Gordon
James, Bob
Jemnitz, Sándor
Jirák, Karel Boleslav
Jóhannsson, Magnús Blöndal
Jolivet, André
Jongen, Joseph
Karg-Elert, Sigfrid
Kay, Ulysses
Kelterborn, Rudolf
Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis
Kennan, Kent Wheeler
Kennedy, Martin
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Khachaturian, Aram
Kocsár, Miklós
Kodaly, Zoltan
Koechlin, Charles
Kornauth, Egon
Kraft, Leo
Krzywicki, Jan
Kupferman, Meyer
La Montaine, John
Lauber, Joseph
Lavista, Mario
Lee, Eugene
Leeuwen, Ary van
Levinson, Gerald
Liebermann, Lowell
Loudova, Ivana
Mack, Dieter
Mahler, Gustav
Maresz, Yan
Martin, Frank
Martino, Donald
Martinů, Bohuslav
Meltzer, Harold
Messiaen, Olivier
Mihalovici, Marcel
Milhaud, Darius
Mouquet, Jules
Mower, Mike
Muczynski, Robert
Nielsen, Carl
Norby, Erik
Nordenstrom, Gladys
Offermans, Wil
Olsen, Carl Gustav Sparre
Paget, Daniel
Perle, George
Petrovics, Emil
Piazzolla, Astor
Piston, Walter
Poulenc, Francis
Prokofiev, Sergey
Rachmaninoff, Sergei
Ran, Shulamit
Raphael, Günter
Rautavaara, Einojuhani
Ravel, Maurice
Reynolds, Verne
Riegger, Wallingford
Rivier, Jean
Rodrigo, Joaquin
Rota, Nino
Rotaru, Doina
Rouse, Christopher
Roussel, Albert
Rutter, John
Saariaho, Kaija
Sancan, Pierre
Schmidt, Ole
Schocker, Gary
Schulhoff, Erwin
Schwantner, Joseph
Sciarrino, Salvatore
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Sibelius, Jean
Smit, Leo
Tailleferre, Germaine
Takemitsu, Tōru
Taktakishvili, Otar
Tansman, Alexandre
Tomasi, Henri
Tower, Joan
Uébayashi, Yuko
Varèse, Edgar
Vasks, Pēteris
Weigl, Vally
Weinberg, Mieczysław
Wilder, Alec
Williams, Ralph Vaughan
Yi, Chen
Yun, Isang
Zgraja, Krystof
Sur L'Eau for flute and piano
Ballade for flute and piano in G minor
Romance No 1 for flute and piano
Nocturne and Allegro Scherzando for flute and piano in D-flat Major
Romance No 2 for flute and piano
Madrigal for flute and piano, Op. 9, No. 1
"Divertissement Grec" for flute and piano
Fantasie for flute and piano in G minor
Deux Esquisses for flute and piano
Sicilienne for flute and piano
Sonata for flute and piano in A Major
Sonata for flute and piano in C Major
Sur L'Eau for flute and piano
Philippe Gaubert: Sur L'Eau (On the Water) for flute and piano was written in 1910 and dedicated to French flutist and close friend Louis Fleury. Fleury was one of the most important flutists of the era. He was the first to perform Debussy’s Syrinx and was a champion of contemporary music. The dedication suggests that Gaubert intended this piece for a performer capable of great coloristic nuance and modern phrasing.
By 1910, the influence of Debussy and Ravel had permeated Paris. "Sur l’eau" (a title shared with a famous story by Guy de Maupassant) reflects the Impressionist fascination with water, light, and movement. Musically, this translated into fluid rhythms and lush, shifting harmonies that moved away from the more rigid structures of his earlier romantic works. In 1910, when Philippe Gaubert composed his flute piece of the same name, he was working within a Parisian artistic circle that held Maupassant’s work in high regard.
Guy de Maupassant’s "Sur l’eau" (published in English as "Afloat" in 1888) is a collection of philosophical reflections. The book is framed as a logbook of a nine-day sailing cruise along the French Mediterranean coast (the Côte d’Azur). Maupassant sailed aboard his private yacht, the Bel-Ami (named after his famous novel), traveling from Antibes to Saint-Tropez and back.
For Maupassant, being "on the water" represented a total escape from the "external chaos" and the "suffocating" society of Paris. He describes a sense of absolute freedom where the boat is a "winged home" softer than a hammock.
In 1910, Gaubert was beginning to transition his focus. While still the principal flutist of the Paris Opéra and the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, he was increasingly active on the podium. This orchestral thinking is evident in the piano part of Sur l’eau, which is written with a textural richness that often mimics an orchestral or harp-like accompaniment.
Gaubert Philippe
Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941) was a French flutist, conductor, and composer who primarily wrote music for the flute.
Born in Paris, Gaubert displayed exceptional musical talent early. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied flute with Paul Taffanel, the founder of the modern French Flute School. He excelled not just as a flutist but also as a composer, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1905 with his dramatic scene Sinfonietta and his cantata Daphnis.
Gaubert quickly established a brilliant career. By age 18, he was co-principal flutist at the Paris Opéra orchestra. He co-founded the Société Moderne d'Instruments à Vent (Modern Society for Wind Instruments) to promote new works for winds.
His career was interrupted by World War I, where he served with distinction as an artillery officer and was decorated for bravery. The war had a profound impact on him.
After the war, Gaubert's career reached its zenith when he simultaneously attained three of the most important musical positions in France - Principal Conductor of the Paris Opéra (1918), Conductor of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, and Professor of Flute at the Paris Conservatoire (1919).
Among his most notable students: Marcel Moyse.
Gaubert's compositional style is deeply rooted in the French Romantic and Impressionistic traditions, showing the influence of Fauré and Debussy. His music is characterized by lyrical elegance, delicate harmonies, lush colors, and a natural feel for the capabilities of the instruments, especially the flute.
As the favourite pupil of Taffanel, Gaubert received a complete archive of Taffanel's life's work, including history, theory, and practice of the flute, to be finished and published. Gaubert completed this project in 1923, and until today the Taffanel and Gaubert method remains a very important source for flutists around the world.