Jean-Pierre Rampal; Revived Flute as Solo Instrument

Jean-Pierre Rampal, the French classical flutist who brought the instrument into the solo spotlight during a career lasting more than 50 years, died Saturday in Paris of heart failure. He was 78.

A superb musical technician with a creamy tone and an elegant sense of dynamics, Rampal proved more than just a flutist. He won listeners around the world as the quintessentially cultured Frenchman. His trademarks were a 14-karat-gold flute, a commanding stage presence and a joie de vivre.

“Working with him was pure pleasure, sheer joy, exuberance,” violinist Isaac Stern told the Associated Press on Saturday after learning of Rampal’s death. “He was one of the great musicians of our time, who really changed the world’s perception of the flute as a solo instrument.”

Until Rampal began his international career in the early 1950s, only the violin, cello and piano were considered solo instruments by classical performers. Rampal’s interpretations of masterpieces by Bach, Handel and Vivaldi helped change that, as he gave more than 100 concerts a year around the world.

“Although always a popular instrument with musicians, the flute was never a popular instrument with the public,” Times music critic Mark Swed said Saturday. “Rampal . . . was the first to draw in large crowds to recitals. Certainly, every successful flute soloist who has come after Rampal, James Galway in particular, has Rampal to thank for paving the way.”

Although his several hundred recordings make him one of the most recorded performers in history, Rampal confided in his autobiography, “Music, My Life,” that he “stumbled into a musical career.”

Born in Marseille, he was at first discouraged from a career in music even though his father was a professor of flute at the prestigious Marseille Academy.

His mother encouraged him to go into medicine for the steady income it would provide. But Rampal’s father started teaching him the flute when he was 12 to fill out a class at the academy. Two years later, Rampal took top honors in a competition at the conservatory. In his early teens, he was second-chair flutist--his father was first chair--of the Marseille Concert Orchestra.

His early success, however, did not dissuade him from pursuing a medical career, which he was doing in earnest when the Nazis marched into Paris.

Conscripted and assigned to a Nazi labor camp, Rampal escaped from the Germans, made his way to Paris and found refuge at the Paris Conservatory, where he continued his studies under the protection of the Resistance. It was then that his medical career gave way to music.

After the war, Rampal played in the orchestra of the Vichy Opera from 1947 to 1951; was principal flutist of the Paris Opera from 1955 to 1962; and performed with chamber groups, including the French Wind Quintet and the Paris Baroque Ensemble.

He made his U.S. debut at the Library of Congress in 1958.

“The most important part of any concert,” Rampal wrote, “is to take possession of the hall and make contact with the audience.

“You should play the flute like the violin, with a good line of melody,” he said. “If you play vibrato too strong, it becomes very tiring to listen to. The flute should be mellow with a big range of dynamics.”

Arguably, his most important performances came in 1949, when he made his Paris debut playing solo flute concertos and sonatas that until then had been a largely forgotten form.

By the 1970s, Rampal’s classical career was so firmly established that he felt comfortable exploring new territory. Joined by harpist Lily Laskine, who had played duets with him for nearly 35 years, Rampal released an album of Japanese folk songs that was record of the year in Japan in 1970. His recording of Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” remained on the Billboard charts for nearly a decade and gave him broad-based appeal, which resulted in appearances on programs such as “The Muppet Show,” where he performed “Ease on Down the Road” with Miss Piggy.

“Rampal’s crossover efforts made him all the more famous in his later years,” Swed noted. “They were uneven . . . but he also had tireless curiosity and conviviality that allowed him to take listeners-- often unsuspecting ones who otherwise might not even consider the notion--on journeys into Indian and Japanese music.”

Although he was slowed in later years by hip problems that forced him to use a cane and sit during performances, Rampal’s playing suffered little and he continued to promote the works of contemporary composers.

“The Rampal tone, particularly in slow movements, is as appealing as ever,” Times reviewer Herbert Glass wrote in 1994. “[It is] firm, rounded, richly varied with the natural scope of the instrument’s capabilities, which, in fact, Rampal has redefined and expanded for modern audiences and other flutists.”

His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Paris.

Rampal is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Francoise; their two children, Isabelle and Jean-Jacques; and five grandchildren.