Jean-Pierre Mathez

Jean Baptiste Arban

Joseph Jean-Baptiste Laurent Arban (1825-1889) is the name of a French musician of the 19th century who was very popular in his day but is today remembered by no-one except brass players, and they remember only his surname. He was an eminent cornet virtuoso, a popular conductor-composer-arranger, a professor who helped to improve the reputation of the Paris Conservatoire and an indefatigable researcher into the improvement of brass instrument manufacture. His famous Complete Grand Method for Cornet Saxhorn has been and is still today the most widely used tutor in brass instrument teaching. This little story of the man himself therefore gives us details and unexpected and revealing glimpses of the musical life of European society in the 19th century. Greatly illustrated with letters, photographs and official documents of Arban's time.