Sweet Music and Dry Wine: The Life of Gérard Faisandier Jeffrey Lyman

Figure 1: Cases for the 2000 vintage awaiting assembly

It’s almost time for dinner, and once again you find yourself strolling among the shelves of your neighborhood wine shop, looking for a bottle to bring home. There you browse among selections from the finest châteaux of , from Burgundy to the Rhône, Champagne to the Loire, or further south and west to and the Languedoc. As you stand in front of the Pomerols in the Bordeaux aisle, perhaps you are hoping to find the perfect accompaniment to the roast you have in the oven. If you know anything of how wine is distributed, you already know that the several bottles on the shelf in front of you represent your local store’s allotment of whatever bottles arrive in your state from those châteaux, and that your state has only a fraction of what arrives in the country, etc., and that in the end this must surely amount to hundreds or even thousands of bottles from an enormous wine producing region covered by miles and miles of vineyards. Think again. If you enter the east side of the commune of Pomerol, at the northeastern edge of the world-renowned wine making region that surrounds the city of Bordeaux, France, you can easily reach the western border of that same commune in just under four or five minutes, depending on the route you take and whether or not you get stuck behind a tractor ambling along the narrow roads between the vineyards. The entire area of Pomerol covers a mere 800 hectares, or just a little over 3 square miles. Pomerol includes a number of small family vineyards, a few highly celebrated properties, and the one vineyard whose prices have prompted more gasps than any other: Château Pétrus, one of the most highly prized and highly priced wines in the world.1 Yet in this tiny commune lived not only one of the world’s unique wine makers, but one of the world’s important bassoonists, Gérard Faisandier. In the village of René on the route D244, you can find his tiny 3.5 hectare plot of land known to some as Château Mayne-René and to others as Château La Bassonnerie, his home from 1962 until his death in 2003. But wine was only part of his life, and what a life it was. Who was Gérard Faisandier? Those readers who have had the pleasure of hearing the landmark recordings of the Trio pour hautbois, basson et piano and the Sextuor pour quintette à vent et piano by , recorded for EMI2 in the early 1970’s need no further introduction. If you do not know those recordings, or the several made by Monsieur Faisandier with the Quintette à vent de of the music of Auric, Ibert, Tomasi, Jolivet3, Schoenberg and others, then this article is for you.

Figure 2: Gérard Faisandier and puppy on the Atlantic coast

Early Years Gérard Faisandier was born on the 16th of August in the city of Libourne in 1922. Libourne lies several kilometers to the east of the historic port city of Bordeaux and is usually described as an industrial town, one that helps to supply the machinery, the barrels and the myriad tools required of the wine country that surrounds it. It sits in the midst of many smaller, far more celebrated villages with names we all know from restaurant wine lists, such as Saint-Émilion and Pomerol to the east, Fronsac and Cognac to the north, Paulliac, St. Julien and Blaye to the northwest, and Sauternes and Graves to the southwest. While the surrounding wine country occupies itself with ageing its wine and pampering its customers, Libourne takes care of the day-to-day needs of the region by supplying it with groceries, hardware, furniture, etc. It was here in Libourne that the young Faisandier took up the saxophone and had aspirations of becoming a famous musician. With a fair measure of talent and an even greater measure of confidence, he auditioned for and was accepted to the Conservatoire Municipal de Musique et de Déclamation de Bordeaux. However, it would not be as a saxophonist that he would later leave this institution. Professor of Bassoon Pierre Ferry convinced Faisandier that he would have a better chance at a career in music if he would leave the saxophone and take up the bassoon. Under the tutelage of Monsieur Ferry, Faisandier started along the path that would lead him to fame as one of the preeminent chamber music players and woodwind soloists in all of France. Almost immediately, a second path quietly started its meandering course alongside his musical path. When his lessons in Bordeaux began, the young Faisandier rented a room near the conservatory from a landlady whose husband also ran a winery several kilometers east in Pomerol. The landlady’s daughter Henriette caught the student’s attention, and they soon started a courtship. Smitten with both the bassoonist and his music, Henriette began taking private piano lessons in the hope of becoming an amateur musician herself. The two remained together during the ensuing years of Gérard’s studies, and it was during this time that Gérard learned not only the bassoon but the craft of winemaking as well, as his future father-in-law sometimes required his assistance back in Pomerol. Still, his studies at the conservatoire received the majority of his attention, and in 1940, at his first attempt at the annual concours he received second place medals in the bassoon class of Pierre Ferry and the chamber music class of Madame Rulleau-Dupré.4

World War II and the German Occupation The summer of 1940 was hardly an idyllic moment in the history of France. The German army invaded France in May of that year and by June had taken Paris. In a decision that would divide his country, both literally and figuratively, the 84-year-old vice-premier Henri-Philippe Pétain, acting after the resignation of Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, helped negotiate the surrender with Germany, and on 22 June signed an armistice with the Nazis. The Germans took control not only of Paris, but of all of the north of France and the Atlantic coast, including the highly strategic port of Bordeaux and all of the surrounding wine country. For a very brief time, students at the Bordeaux conservatory were able to continue their studies without the direct intervention of the Nazis or of the Vichy government, and in 1941, Faisandier competed in the concours for a second time and won first prizes in bassoon and chamber music. At his commencement ceremonies he heard an address by the celebrated French pianist Alfred Cortot, but Cortot’s role that day was not simply as pianist. Marshall Pétain had nominated Cortot to a new role as head of le Comité d’organisation professionnel de la musique, a committee that helped to monitor and direct musical activities throughout the country. The Germans had long considered music a highly effective agent of both cultural pride and of propaganda, and according to the opinion of the Munich historian Karl Wimmer, a member of the Propaganda Staffel of Paris, the French were themselves “supreme masters in the art of penetrating other peoples through cultural politics.”5 The Nazis had by this time taken control of nearly all the musical organizations in Germany, and saw the control of music in France as a means to build a bridge between the French and German cultures. Organizations like the Comité d’organisation professionnel de la musique were sometimes called upon by the occupying forces to assist in creating an illusion of hope and calm in the otherwise anxious and divided nation by staging concerts across the country. The nomination of such a celebrated artist as Cortot, who had long been appreciated in both France and Germany alike, seemed a logical and diplomatically shrewd choice on the part of the Nazis, but his acceptance of the position forever tainted Cortot’s reputation in France, and he was never completely forgiven for his apparent sympathetic relationship with the Vichy regime.6 Marshall Pétain had famously replaced the French motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood) with another tripartite call for Travail, Famille, Patrie (Work, Family, Country). In Cortot’s address that summer to the graduating class, he rallied the students with yet another of Pétain’s triplicate cheers: Effort, Union, Don de soi (Effort, Unity, Gift of Oneself).7 Had the times been any different, such a call to a life of hard work, or for a sense of unity with one’s fellow citizens, or even the plea for assistance with the national cause would have sounded like just so much Graduation Day fodder. But coming from the mouth of an artist who had once represented the finest that France had to offer and who now appeared to be a sympathizer with the occupying Nazis, Cortot’s words sounded more than a little bit sinister to the students. The winning of a first prize at any regional conservatory in France granted the laureate the opportunity to continue his or her studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris. Gérard left Bordeaux for Paris in the fall of 1941 and entered the bassoon class of Gustave Dhérin and the chamber music class of Fernand Oubradous. These were not easy years for the Parisian students, however, as by this time the Germans had abandoned their hands-off policies towards educational institutions and were executing various debilitating controls over the students and faculty. For example, the Conservatoire was among the first institutions targeted by the Nazis in their attempt to rid all schools of Jewish faculty and students. According to a decree of 3 October 1940, all Jewish faculty members were to be removed from their positions within two months of the official publication of the decree, which was to occur on the 18th of that same month.8 Rather than battle against this decree on behalf of its students, the archives of the school confirm the voluntary collaboration between the Conservatoire’s director Henri Rabaud and the Nazi officials, and include not only the proof of a purge of Jewish faculty and students, but Rabaud’s further personal documentation of the “non-Israelite character of the Director of the Conservatoire” and “a declaration, under the responsibility of the director, of the racial character of the administrative personnel and the faculty of the Conservatoire.”9 According to musicologist Jean Gribenski, one embarrassing fact of French history is “generally ignored or passes under silence: the Conservatoire is the only public education establishment in metropolitan France from which Jewish students were excluded in totality under the Vichy regime.”10 By the fall of 1941, when Faisandier arrived at the school, it was not only the Jewish students who were being targeted by the Nazis. The German work force was sorely disabled at home due to nearly all of their men being required at the front, and so with the assistance of the Vichy government, thousands of French citizens were taken abroad under a decree known as the STO (Statut du Travail Obligatoire or Forced Work Detail). This law required that all “young men born between the 1st of October 1919 and the 31st of December 1922 were to be made available for essential activities of the country for a period of two years.”11 At some time during the year 1942, Faisandier fell victim to an earlier manifestation of this order12 and was taken by the Germans. Luckily for him, if there was any luck to be had in this situation, he was able to use his musical talents in order to fulfill his obligations, and while in Germany he was required to perform as a bassoonist at a music school whose own students had been sent to the ranks of the German army.13 After a few months in Germany, Faisandier escaped and hid along the border with France. A group of French soldiers rescued him and helped him make his way west, back to Paris. He immediately tried to find his dear Henriette, who at this time was herself hiding east of Bordeaux in the village Sainte-Foy la Grande. They both eventually met up again in Paris, and December of 1942 marked another milestone in Faisandier’s life, his marriage to Henriette. He returned to his place among his student colleagues at the Conservatoire, and in the spring of 1943 he earned first prizes in bassoon and chamber music.14

Professional Appointments In 1944, Faisandier took over his most celebrated position as member of the Quintette à vent de Paris, a post he held for twenty years. The other members of this eminent chamber ensemble included flutist Jacques Castagner, oboist Robert Casier, clarinetist André Boutard and hornist Michel Bergès. The group was a favorite of the most eminent composers of France, and they were the dedicatees of numerous works for winds in a variety of combinations. Recordings were an important aspect of their work, and the group committed to disc a wide variety of old and new music ranging from classics by Taffanel, Pierné and D’Indy through new music by Schmidt, Jolivet and Sauguet. Their close personal and professional relationship with Francis Poulenc was to be celebrated in the form of a complete recording of his woodwind music with the composer at the piano, a project that was postponed upon the composer’s death in 1963. The project took nearly a decade to complete, and those recordings are still available in a multi-disc set on EMI, but with Jacques Février as pianist assisting the members of the quintet.15 While chamber music was the central focus of Faisandier’s work for most of his career, he was also active in an impressive list of French orchestras. His resume includes basson solo positions in the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, la Musique de la Garde Républicaine de Paris and the orchestra of Radio Luxembourg. It was while working in Luxembourg in 1962 that Faisandier learned of the death of his father-in-law in Pomerol and of his inheritance of the home and the winery. Francine Faisandier speculated that the move to Pomerol allowed her father to consider changing his career from bassoonist to conductor, as he knew that his embouchure would eventually fail, and he felt that as a conductor he could continue his musical life almost without end. After moving the family to Pomerol, Faisandier continued to perform as soloist and as an orchestral bassoonist, and assisted in bringing the musical attention of France to his new home. Oddly, very little bassoon instruction ever took place at the home in Pomerol. Francine Faisandier recalled that her father only had about five or six students, and far preferred performing to teaching. What teaching she does remember always centered on her father’s love of the sound of the French basson, which he insisted should sound more like a cello than a German fagott. He also demanded many hours of practice from his students, even suggesting that they should practice while washing up in the morning before going to school or to work. Faisandier was given the title Animateur Musical Régional and assisted the Ministères des Affaires Culturel of both Aquitaine and Midi Pyrénées in helping to de- centralize French musical culture. He assisted conductor in raising the status of the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse from a regional to a national orchestra, and for a time served as the orchestra’s personnel manager. As for his beloved chamber music, he and fellow Bordelais composer Henri Sauguet brought many of their Parisian colleagues to the area in an annual music festival in neighboring Saint-Émilion.

Un soir à Saint-Émilion The music festival in Saint-Émilion lasted only a few brief years, due in part to the meddlesome interference of a local politician who tried to take away the directorship from Faisandier and Sauguet. A more pleasant and longer lasting memory from the festival is Henri Sauguet’s charming romance for bassoon and piano Un soir à Saint- Émilion. The dedication on the manuscript, still held by Henriette and Francine at the château, reads:

À vous, cher Gérard Faisandier en souvenir non seulement d’ “Un Soir à Saint- Émilion” mais de toutes ces soirées du Festival qui est amené tant de musique dans la chère vielle capitale du vin. Avec tous mes sentiments de reconnaissance et d’amicale consideration. Henri Sauguet, Coutras, 10.5.73 (To you, dear Gérard Faisandier, in memory not only of “An Evening in Saint- Émilion” but of all these evenings at the Festival that have brought so much music to this dear old capital of wine. In cordial recognition and with friendship. Henri Sauguet, Coutras, 10.5.73)

It is odd that on this manuscript the date of composition is given as 1971 while the dedication is signed May of 1973. Francine Faisandier suspected that her copy might have been specially prepared by Sauguet as a gift and presented to her father after its composition. At any rate, the friendly sentiment expressed by the work is timeless, and if ever a bassoon work portrayed the richness of the wine produced in this part of France, this is it.16 As was originally noted in an article in the IDRS Journal by Richard Lottridge, the first printing of the romance by Alphonse Leduc included several photos of wine labels on the back cover, but none of the dedicatee’s own wine!17

Figure 3: l-r, front row G. Faisandier, unidentified, Francine Yvon, Michel Plasson, Henri Sauguet

Château La Bassonnerie One must always take care when judging the quality of someone’s second career, especially if that someone is an artist in one area and an amateur in another. With two careers as unrelated as music performance and wine making, one might expect that excellence in one could not possibly be matched with similar achievement in the other. By this point in this article, the emphasis on the musical career of Gérard Faisandier might lead the reader to believe that the author was avoiding offering opinions on his wine making skills. This is truly not the case, however, as the wines made at Château La Bassonnerie/Château Mayne René have received many accolades over time. Two of the most widely read French reference books on wine write highly of their current vintages. This first description appears in the current edition of the premier reference book on the wines of Bordeaux by Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret:

Le nom de château La Bassonnerie est emprunté à l’un des plus vieux instruments de musique à vent, car son propriétaire, Gérard Faisandier, fut l’un des meilleurs joueurs de basson du monde. Bien de famille depuis plus d’un siècle, le vignoble avec des terroirs et des sols différents (argileux, sablos-argileux, sablo-graveleux et graves pures sur crasse de fer), complanté de 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet franc et 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, produit des vins fins, moelleux, d’une belle couleur. Leur vinification est assuré par Dominique Leymarie, assisté de Michel Rolland, œnologue.18 Ils sont très appréciés en France et à l’étranger.19 (The name of the château La Bassonnerie is borrowed from one of the oldest woodwind instruments, because its owner, Gérard Faisandier, was one of the finest bassoon players in the world. A family estate for more than a century, the vineyard is comprised of different soils [clay, sandy-clay, gravel, gravel-sand and pure gravel on decomposed iron], planted with 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, producing fine wines that are velvety and have a beautiful color. The wine maker is Dominique Leymarie, assisted by Michel Rolland, œnologist. The wines are greatly appreciated in France and abroad.)

In the 2005 edition of Le Guide Hachette des Vins, the 2001 offering received this review:

Vignoble de graves sur argiles du secteur de René, composé de 80% de merlot et à 20% de cabernet franc. Dans le verre la teinte est séduisante: cœur rubis, liseré ambré. Le bouquet est expansif, succession de fruits mûrs, d’épices, de notes de cuir et de bois toasté. La bouche, corpulente et charnue, mêle le bois et le cuir sur des tannins encore très présents qui assureront la garde. Ce style de vin appelle un plat riche, par exemple un filet de bœuf piqué au lard du cul noir.20 (Vineyard of gravel on clay in the René sector, composed of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet franc. In the glass the color is seductive: a ruby heart with amber edging. The bouquet is expansive, a succession of ripe fruits, spices, leather notes and toasted wood. The taste, corpulent and fleshy, mixes wood and leather on still very present tannins that will ensure a long life. This wine style calls for a rich dish, for example a filet of beef larded with the bacon of wild boar.)

When Monsieur Faisandier first took over the winery, it was called Château René, after the village where their vines are located. It has since been changed to Château Mayne-René, and this is the same wine that you will find under the label Château La Bassonnerie. The musical appellation was added after a suggestion from several of Faisandier’s musician friends, who saw it as a marketing strategy. For many years, a picture of two crossed bassoons decorated each bottle, but this is no longer the design. In addition to this property in Pomerol, Faisandier owned a second smaller (1 hectare) winery a short ride to the north in Lalande-Pomerol, Château La Rose Tremière, whose wines are made of 80% Cabernet franc and 20% Merlot.

Figure 4: Francine Faisandier and the tanks for ageing Château La Bassonnerie So the final question remains: where can one buy some of the wine? These wines, as with the wines of many of the small producers in the region, are for the most part sold on site, and it is nearly impossible to buy them outside of the immediate area where they are produced. As of this writing, there is no distributor for Château La Bassonnerie in the United States, but they ship throughout Europe. The best advice to those seeking to taste this wine is to visit Pomerol itself. Contact the Syndicat Viticole de Pomerol, a central source of information for the commune, which can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. Dominique Leymarie, the current maker of Château La Bassonnerie can be reached by phone in the Village of René, Pomerol, at +06 09 73 12 78, or via the larger Leymarie distribution center in Libourne at +05 57 51 07 83, or by fax at +05 57 51 99 94. Inquiries regarding current prices and vintages available for shipment in Europe can be sent to [email protected]. Visits to the winery, as in all of Pomerol, are by appointment only. Pomerol itself has no hotels and no restaurants, so visitors should stay in nearby Saint-Émilion, which is hardly an inconvenience.

After a life filled with musical and political adventures, great food and great wine, Monsiuer Faisandier died in 2003. He was diagnosed with diabetes a few years earlier, but as his daughter tells, he was so used to a life that included rich foods and wines that he was not at all interested in changing his habits to follow doctors’ orders, and the disease at last claimed his life. Unfortunately, his daughter Francine suffers from the same condition. The story of Gérard Faisandier is unique in the fact that he was able to engage professionally in two passions as widely and deeply shared as music and wine. We see in Faisandier’s example how strange it is that so many of us are defined more by the chairs we occupy when performing, or by the positions we hold in an institution, and not by all those elements that bring color and meaning to our daily lives. In thanks to people like Faisandier, we should all raise a glass of Château La Bassonnerie in appreciation of those musicians who know when to momentarily put down the bassoon and take up a paint brush, a cooking pot, a baseball, or whatever else it is that guides their time off stage or out of the practice room.

Figure 5: Monsieur Faisandier celebrating with his wine makers.

1 During the visit to Saint-Émilion and Pomerol in May of 2005 that this author made to research the present article, it was not unusual to find local wine merchants asking anywhere from 500 to 3,000 Euros (depending on the vintage) for single bottles of Chateau Pétrus. 2 Currently available in a 2-CD set from Angel/EMI, CZS 7 62736 2, or with the ASIN: B000024XZ0 3 Faisandier’s recording of Jolivet’s Pastorales de Noël with flutist Jacques Castagner and harpist Lily Laskine was recently re-released on the Accord label, in the series “Les Compositeurs Français.” The performance was recorded under the supervision of the composer, and the 2-cd set also includes the first of Maurice Allard’s recordings of Jolivet’s concerto. Find it under the number Accord 2CD 4767783.

4 The only bassoonist to be awarded first prize at the 1940 concours was Guy Bergès of Bordeaux. 5 Karl Wimmer, quoted in Manuela Schwartz: “La Musique, outil majeur de la propagande culturelle des nazis”, La Vie musicale sous Vichy, ed. Myriam Chimènes (Editions Complexe, 2001), 89. This translation and all others in the article by Jeffrey Lyman. While it was the wish of the Nazis to use French orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists to perform the masterworks of the German repertory at their concerts, many French musicians made it a point during this time to play only the music of French composers, thereby following the Nazi plan by performing while at the same time helping to strengthen French nationalist fervor. 6 For an alternate perspective and a defense of Cortot’s work before, during and after the War, see Bernard Gavoty: Alfred Cortot (Paris: Buchet/Chastel, 1977). 7 Discours de M. Alfred Cortot, recorded in the archives of the Conservatoire Jacques Thibaud, 1940. 8 Jean Gribenski: “L’Exclusion des Juifs du Conservatoire (1940-1942)”, La Vie musicale sous Vichy, ed. Myriam Chimènes (Editions Complexe, 2001), 144. 9 J. Gribenski, 146. 10 J. Gribenski, 143. 11 Marguerite Sablonnière: “Claude Delvincourt et les cadets du Conservatoire: Une Politique d’orchestre (1943-1954)”, Le Conservatoire de Paris, 1795-1995: Des Menus- Plaisirs à la Cité de la musique, eds. Anne Bongrain and Yves Gérard (Paris: Éditions Buchet/Chastel, 1996), 263. Faisandier’s call-up came too early for him to take part in a brilliant subterfuge proposed by the new director of the Conservatoire Claude Delvincourt. When Delvincourt was approached by numerous students in the classes of 1941 and 1942 for assistance in avoiding the STO, he negotiated with the Germans to form an orchestra of students who would provide music for tours of Germany and for official functions of the state. Many of the promised concerts and tours never occurred, thanks to the clever manipulation of red tape on the part of the shrewd director. For more on the exploits of this orchestra, see the complete article cited in this note. 12 The formal adoption of the terms of the STO did not occur until 16 February 1943, but prior to this the Germans were taking any men they could. They first raided the prisons, then took “volunteers” from the general populace, especially unemployed young men who were not yet active in the military who saw forced work as better than no work. These men were promised (but rarely received) some small compensation that they planned to send home to their families. At first, the Germans also promised to exchange one prisoner of war for every three Frenchmen who would come to Germany for work, another promise they never kept. The Faisandier family members interviewed for this article were unsure of the exact date of Gérard’s conscription and so the facts of his work detail remain incomplete. For more details on this aspect of the war, see “Le Service du Travail Obligatoire” on-line at http://www.secondeguerre.net/sto.htm. 13 During the interviews held in preparation of this article, Henriette Faisandier tried to recall the name of the town where her husband had been taken, and thought it was called “Narwich” or “Narwick.” However, no town or music school in Germany by that name could be located, so it is not known exactly where Gérard was taken. Update since the article was published: Faisandier’s oboist colleague in the Paris Wind Quintet, Robert Cassier claims the town was in Norway, not Germany. 14 Archives of the Conservatoire Municipal de Musique et de Déclamation de Bordeaux, 1943. 15 The personal relationship between Francis Poulenc and Gérard Faisandier was so close that Poulenc made Faisandier promise to name his first child after him. As the first child turned out to be a daughter and not a son, she was named Francine Faisandier, and it was with the help of Francine that most of this article came into being. The author would like to thank her for her assistance in detailing the life of her father. 16 Few bassoonists realize that the popular arabesque for bassoon and piano by Jacques Ibert titled Carignane is named after a widely planted wine grape. 17 Richard Lottridge: “Contemporary Literature for the Bassoon,” Journal of the International Double Reed Society, #4. Accessed 1/4/05 at http://idrs.colorado.edu/Publications/Journal/JNL4/contemporary.html. 18 Wine buffs may recognize Michel Rolland as one of the key figures in the recent film Mondovino. Rolland is a consultant to more than a hundred wineries around the world, from small properties in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol to the great estates of Robert Mondavi in California and Casa Lapostolle in Argentina. 19 Charles Cocks et Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins, 16th edition (Bordeaux: Éditions Féret 2001). 20 Le Guide Hachette des Vins 2005, ed. Catherine Montalbetti. (Paris: Hachette Pratique 2004), 263.