Jules Boucherit (1877-1962) was a French violinist and professor at the Conservatoire national de musique de Paris. After a career as a soloist, he devoted himself entirely to teaching from 1923. J. Boucherit trained many numerous students, including Michèle Auclair, Ginette Neveu, Ivry Gitlis, Devy Erlih, Serge Blanc, Jacques Dejean and Denise Soriano, who became his wife.
Studies at the Conservatory – Paris
Jules Boucherit entered the Conservatoire national de musique de Paris in 1890 in the class of Jules Garcin and obtained the 1st Prize in 1892. Often simply presented as the student of Jules Garcin (1830-1896), he actually also learned from Augustin Lefort (1852-1933), a student of Lambert Massart.
Here’s how Jules Boucherit talks about entering the Conservatory in 1890.
My dear and good master A. Lefort was not yet a professor there. So he introduced me to Garcin, who was then in charge of a violin class. […] The excellent man received me with a good smile, paternal gestures, encouraging words. However, I had the unpleasant surprise to learn that the violin class was overcrowded and that the entrance exam that year was simply abolished.
Sincere disappointment, so I settled for a modest auditor’s seat. Every Thursday I went to class with the studies of Gaviniès and Rode under my arm. I had wisely worked on them under the control of my dear mother and under the direction of M. Lefort. Garcin listened to me attentively, smiled in his beard, mumbled a few kind words.
He would say elsewhere, “I had as masters: my mother and Lefort.”
Recordings by Jules Boucherit
He recorded for Zonophone in Paris in 1906, accompanied by Louis Diémer.
| Morceau | Compositeur | Matrice |
|---|---|---|
| Le cygne | Saint-Saëns | [5499o] X-87900 |
| Gavotte ancienne | Leclair | [5500o] X-87901 |
| Romance | Diémer | [5502o] X-87902 |
| Tambourin | Leclair | [5503o] X-87903 |
| Hejre Kati | Hubay | [5506o] X-87904 |
| Berceuse | Fauré | [5508o] X-87905 |
| Thais: Méditation | Massenet | [5592o] X-87906 |
| Danse mauresque | Lefort | [5593o] X-87910 |
| Poème hongrois No 4 | Hubay | [5594o] X-87907 |
| Caprice scherzando | Diémer | [5595o] X-87908 |
| Poème hongrois No 6 | Hubay | [5596o] X-87909 |
| Nocturne | Chopin | [5597o] X-87911 |
| Aria | Bach | [5598o] X-87912 |
| Menuet du Concerto k.219 | Mozart | [5599o] X-87913 |
| Aria | Bach | [6021o] X-87912 |
He also conducts the Mozart concerto n°3 recorded by Denise Soriano in 1937 for Pathé.
Jules Boucherit students
Jules Boucherit was appointed to the National Conservatory of Music in 1920 and devoted himself exclusively to teaching from 1923 until his retirement in 1945. He also taught at the Ecole normale de musique.
This list comes from the Memories of Jules Boucherit collected by Marc Soriano and was established by Jacques Chailley, Denise Soriano and André Proffit.
Ambrosio (Violette d’)
Alexandresco (Eugénie)
Andrade (Janine)
Aram (Eldar)
Astruc-Desfossez
Auclair (Michèle)
Audoin (Mlle)
Balbon (Georges)
Barbillon (Mlle)
Barbillon (Mlle
Barthel (Micheline)
Barthélemy (André)
Baudré (Simone)
Beaufond (Brigitte de)
Beauvilier (jean)
Bikelas (Hélène)
Blanc (Serge)
Bloch (Mlle)
Blum (Lise
Bobesco (Lola)
Borde (Germaine
Boussinot (Michèle)
Brabant (Georgette)
Brel(Gilbert)
Brilli (Jacqueline
Brugger (André)
Brunschwig (Dany)
Candès (Gisèle)
Candela (Miguel)
Chailley (Marie-Thérèse
Champeil (jean)
Charmasson (Mlle)
Charpentier (Mlle)
Chatenet (M.)
Chevrillon (Geneviève
Ciompi (Giorgio)
Colombani (Jean)
Cristesco (Mlle)
D’Arco (Annie)
D’Arco (Raymond)
Dautremer (M.)
Degeorge (Mlle)
Dejean (Jacques)
Dejuge (Béatrice
Delcroix (Alice)
Demonceau (Mlle)
Duforestel (M.)
Dumont (Jacques)
Encan (Mile)
Erlih (Devy)
Eurasiou (Mlle) C.N.M.
Ferber
Ferlet (Lisette
Ferras (Christian)
Figueroa (José)
Filon (Simone)
Forestier (Jeanne)
Frantz (Colette)
Friquegnon (B.)
Gautier (Jeanne) C.N.M.
Gabez (Fernand)
Gali (Lionel
Gamel (Mlle). C.N.M.
Gaudu (Marie-France)
Gentil (Christian)
Geoffre (Mlle). C.N.M.
Gitlis (Isaac. dit Ivry)
Gitton (jean)
Goirzman (Mlle)
Goldenberg (M.)
Grabowska (Edwige)
Guignard (Mlle)
Guerra (Mlle)
Hamouth (Madeleine)
Haskil (Clara)
Hayem (Mlle)
Hébert (Ernest)
Husson (Mlle)
Isnard (Jeanne)
Joffre (Mlle)
Karen (Mlle)
Kosloff (Marc)
Lauga (Norbert)
Lecompte (Yves)
Lewkovicz (Henri)
Louis (Mlle)
Manet (Julie)
Manet (Marie)
Martinon (jean)
Masson (Madeleine)
Mritour (M.)
Mendels (Émile)
Merlange (Éliane
Meunier (Mlle)
Meynieu (Suzanne)
Mietti (M.)
Monceau (Ghislaine de)
Motte-Rouge (M. de la)
Neveu (Ginette)
Nivet (Thérèse)
Oger C.N.M.
Orsaillon (Simone)
Orsal (Jacqueline). C.N.M. soliste.
Pepper (Herbert)
Perring (Alban). C.N.M.
Perlmuter (Louis)
Platonich (Suzanne) C.N.M.
Pons (André)
Profit (André) C.N.M.
Quesnel (Jacques)
Rasquier (Mlle)
Ricucci (Mlle). E.N.M.
Rosenthal (Manuel)
Ruozzo (M.). C.N.M.
Salomons (Jacqueline
Sampigny (Hortense de)
Schermanski
Schwalbé (Michel)
Serpinet. E.N.M.
Siebenthal (Marguerite de)
Soetens (Robert)
Sorbets (Francine)
Soriano (Denise
Souvignet (Mlle)
Stern (Marcel)
Szering (Henri)
Temienka (M.)
Tisserand (M.)
Vanliecke (Mile)
Vautier (Madeleine)
Vignery (Jeanne)
Vincent (Jacqueline)
Voulfmann (Vladimir)
Warlop (Michel)
Zeki (Mlle)
Zeller (Mlle)
Documents
Let’s start with a curiosity and a rarity with this little piece composed by Jules Boucherit. It has no artistic pretensions and echoes the Breton origins of the violinist born in Morlaix.
The Kreutzer Etudes annotated by Jules Boucherit are an interesting document. They were given to me by Jacques Dejean, my teacher, who had worked on them with Jules Boucherit at the end of the 30s. A precious testimony of the technical work done at the Conservatory at the beginning of the century.
