Joseph-François Garnier


Joseph-François Garnier was a French oboist and composer.

Life

Joseph-François Garnier was born in 1755 in Lauris, Vaucluse, to a family of modest means. His father was a shoe-maker in the Place Jean d'Autan. His uncle was a bassoonist, who brought him to Paris to learn the oboe. In 1769 Garnier joined the orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music, playing oboe and flute. Over the course of his long career with this orchestra, from 1775 to 1808, Garnier earned a grand reputation also for performing at the Concert Spirituel public concert series from 1787 to 1791 as solo oboist, occasionally in performances of his own compositions.
From 1792, he taught oboe at the National Guard where he became friends with the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who dedicated his oboe concerto to Garnier and with whom Garnier gave the concerto's first performance. Garnier joined the National Conservatory of Music in 1795, where he was one of five professors of oboe, was a medical doctor and mayor of Neuilly.
Garnier died in Paris on 31 March 1825. His place of burial is unknown. His home town of Lauris named its school of music in his honour on 25 April 2010.

Compositions