Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/221

 In politics Tulou was an ardent Republican. He was strangely neglectful of his playing, frequently mislaying his flute (which is still preserved in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire) and having to borrow one to play on in public! Once, when about to play a solo at a concert given by Catalini at the Theatre Royal Italien in Paris, he discovered at the last moment that one joint of his flute was cracked throughout; whereupon, on the platform and in the face of the expectant audience, he calmly produced some thread and a piece of wax from his pocket and proceeded to mend the flute, after which he played his difficult solo magnificently. Tulou had a fixed idea that his real vocation in life was not flute-playing but painting. He was passionately devoted to hunting, and somewhat unsteady in his habits. During his rather unsuccessful second visit to London, in 1821, he played at two Philharmonic Concerts, where he was coldly received. In 1829 he became Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, having been passed over ten years previously for Joseph Guillou, an inferior player. He was also created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Tulou stuck to the old-fashioned conical flute to the end, preferring one with only four keys. His playing was artistic and finished, remarkable for its liquid smoothness and absence of staccato. He had a rooted objection to double-tongueing; hence his performance, though praised by Böhm, suffered from monotony.

Tulou's principal rival was Louis François Philippe Drouet (1792-1873), the son of a French refugee barber