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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2021

Léon Leblanc 1900-2000. A Man, a Century

Résumé

Léon Leblanc lived through what the historian Eric Hobsbawm, in his 1994 work The Age of Extremes, dubbed the “short twentieth century”. This definition is perfectly suited to instrument making, which moved from a pre-industrial production system to a mass-production system, and then to globalized industrial production. The paper will examine the professional and personal life of Léon Leblanc, recently highlighted by a temporary exhibit and catalogue, through the Leblanc archives preserved at the museum, presenting unpublished documents, and linking his activity to the three-century old tradition of woodwinds instruments of La Couture-Boussey. Léon Leblanc was driven by a tireless search for improved sound, efficient production, and lower costs. Surrounded by music from a very young age, he spent his childhood in workshops alongside workers, machines, woodwind instruments, and the musicians of the wind section conducted by his father Georges, a bassoonist. An enterprising and visionary son and a determinedly forward-looking father: these were the ingredients of the brand’s success. In the mid-1920s, workshops were set up in Paris and Yzeure: the new technologies developed there formed the first step in the transition from manual to industrial manufacturing, improving quality and making parts interchangeable. In 1944, Léon Leblanc met Vito Pascucci, his future business partner, a repair technician for the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. This meeting would have a profound effect on his career: created in 1946, the Leblanc Corporation became the largest clarinet manufacturer in the United States, and Léon traveled the world tirelessly promoting his instruments. Léon’s journey through the century ended a few months before he reached his 100th birthday. The last representative of an artisanal tradition dating back to the previous century passed away quietly, but not without having forever transformed the clarinet production and having permanently established La Couture-Boussey as a place of pilgrimage for thousands of musicians and enthusiasts.
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Dates et versions

hal-04029721 , version 1 (15-03-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04029721 , version 1

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Emanuele Marconi. Léon Leblanc 1900-2000. A Man, a Century. American Musical Instrument Society 2021 Meeting, American Musical Instrument Society, Jun 2021, Virtual conference, United States. ⟨hal-04029721⟩
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