He received his first musical training in the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris, from which he had to leave during the Revolution (1790). Since the founding of the Paris Conservatoire, he was one of the first students in Kenn's horn class, established in 1795, and was the first to receive the Conservatoire's first prize for horn in 1796. He was then a member of various military music formations (enfants de troupe, garde nationale, later garde consulaire). From 1801 to 1805 he attended composition classes with Catel and Gossec at the Conservatoire and in 1811 resumed his music theory studies under the direction of Reicha. From 1806 to 1808 he was first horn player in the orchestra of the Grand Théâtre of Bordeaux, and from 1808 to 1811 in the orchestra of the Paris Opera, where he followed the famous horn players Kenn and Duvernoy. From 1816 to 1830 he was a member of the royal and imperial bands, and from 1832 to 1842 he was a member of the music of King Louis-Philippe. From 1802 to 1817 he was a (deputy) professor and from 1817 to 1820 a properly employed professor at the Conservatoire. From 1828 to 1838 he held the position of soloist at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris.
Dauprat's compositions essentially have the merit of expanding the didactic and virtuoso repertoire of his instrument. According to Fétis, his contemporary, he had a very beautiful tone and phrased with an elegance that is rarely found. This report and the study of his teaching work place him (in accordance with tradition) among the greatest names of French horn players. He played and taught only on the natural horn (without valves), but he is credited with being interested in the first attempts at keyed horns. The memory of his name will always be linked to Reicha's quintets, with which he introduced the Parisian public. The fame of his memory is still so important among players that his first prize diploma (signed by Gossec and the founder of the Conservatoire, Sarrette) and his horn are still reverently preserved and exhibited in the museum of the Paris Conservatoire.
The concertos of this edition are all based on the first prints and autographs.
2. Concerto for Horn and Orchestra op.9
Dauprat’s second concerto is composed for the seconde Cor (lower horn) and was dedicated to the French nobleman Comte Nabert de la Ferté-Meun, maybe a patron of Dauprat.
The second horn concerto has got a larger instrumentation than the first concerto – additional to two horns and two oboes are now one flute and two bassoons. The solo part is can be named outstanding if played with the natural horn, because for the deeper registers, the hornist needs very good scills in playing stopped notes. It seems to be that Dauprats himself was a formidable virtuoso on the natural horn.
Dauprat wrote 1860 new score copies of its works for horn and orchestra (these are in the Parisian national library today). By the way, he changed some musical thoughts and arrangements. Dauprat wishes only this new "edition 1860, par ecole Dauprat" to be played or printed.
For the new edition by Robert Ostermeyer Musikedition, the versvion of 1860 could not be reconciled with the the first editions of the works because of the considerable differences. Comparable is the case with Robert Schumann who edited the 4th symphony op.120 once again later. (Johannes Brahms did not value this processing at all.) However, 10 years are between the first and second version by Schumann, Dauprat reworked his concertos between 30-50 years later. Dauprats understanding of "rightly forgotten music" is explained in his horn school the following way: (...) Sogar die Musik von Punto wird nicht mehr gespielt und soll nicht mehr gespielt werden, zumindest nicht öffentlich, zum einen aus Gründen, die wir im Vorwort dargelegt haben, zum anderen wegen des Stils dieser Musik, der nun veraltet ist seit dem Fortschritt, der eindeutig auf die Gründung des Conservatoire zurückzuführen ist. (...) [even the music by Punto is not played any more and shall not be played any more, at least not in public, on the one hand for reasons which we have explained in the preface, on the other hand because of the style of this music which is not uptodate since the progress, which started with the foundation of the Conservatoire] Some examples for the great differences between the editions of Dauprat: Looking at his "1st Concerto pour Cor" - at first planned for low horn (cor basso), the first edition was then named as a nouvelle edition for high horn. The beautiful classic coda at the end of the first movement after the cadence was crossed out in 1860 in favour of an only complimentary close (4 times), probably in order to be not compared with the antiquated style or to be progressive. The concerto was described as a "Concerto pour cor basso" again in the 1860 version, the high horn part is only rudimentary noted down in the cor basso voice. The dedication to J.Kenn, which was in the first edition, can no longer be found. In the late version, the instrumentation got ornate and the coda of the first movement consits only of the for times. The editor has decided to use the first edition for the new publication. The first edition was really played in the time then, it is clearer, more coherent in the instrumentation and structure and and has whole phrases in the solo horn which got no longer quoted in the "edition 1860". The difficulties did not apply to the edition of the Concertino from the year 1825, because there is no revised version by Dauprat. The editor was generously supported of Mr Daniel Lienhardt from Basel who showed himself as a masterly expert in the works of Dauprat. His essay "Das Naturhorn in Paris [the natural horn in Paris]", which also deals in detail with Dauprat, is very worth reading. This essay is contained in the Basel yearbook "für historische Musikpraxis" XV from the year 1991 (pages 81 -115) which has appeared in the Amadeus Verlag Winterthur.
