Editor's Note . . . It was during a late summer visit with the deGourdon family in Paris that I learned of the death of Alfred Laubin {on September 6, 1976). A supporter of the ideals of the IDRS since its inception, and a source of quiet moral support to this editor, he had only recently agreed to be interviewed expressly for this publication by Thomas Stacy. Unfortunately failing health made this impossible. The great oboe maker's instruments are used across the world and he was esteemed as a repairman with virtually no peers; I myself used Laubin oboes in the early years of my orchestral career, and during my visits to the Laubin workshop in Scarsdale I was impressed again and again with Mr. Laubin's unswerving commitment to perfection. I am indebted to Paul Laubin for his cooperation in so many ways, and most especially for making the photographs which accompany this tribute available to me; he will continue the family business at their Elmsford, New York establishment. I also appreciate the sensitive contributions of Thomas Stacy and Bert Gassman, The IDRS officers and membership join me in expressing deep sympathy to the Laubin family in this loss of one of the giants of the oboe world.
Alfred Laubin, the most accomplished of American oboe makers, died in September. His creative contributions, as master instrument maker, as well as his patient, kind and gentle manner, will live on with many of us.
Alfred was born in 1906 in Detroit, where his father Carl was a charter member of that city's orchestra, playing the oboe and the clarinet. Al's early oboe studies were in Boston with Lenom, DeVergie, and Gillet, who exercised the greatest influence on Alfred to start making oboes. He made the first Laubin oboe in 1930.
Al played in Boston as an extra with the Boston Symphony and at the Esplanade Concerts. He was the first oboe with the Hartford Symphony under Leonard Bernstein, with the Springfield Symphony and with the New Jersey Symphony. He played second oboe with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Reiner and played the first season, as well as several successive ones, with the New York City opera orchestra.
He made oboes in Hartford until 1945. He was with Penzel-Mueller in New York for fifteen years and moved to the present shop in Elmsford, New York in 1968. His first English horn was made in 1946 or '47. In his early years of instrument making he employed the trial-and-error method, and over the years amassed an immense collection of oboe measurements. His specific contributions were in the field of bore adjustments (using a smaller bore today than in earlier years), different tone hole positioning, and very significantly, the varying of the angles of tone hole undercutting to improve the tone quality of different notes. He convinced many players to begin using the F resonance key. He was also an artist, painting in oils and doing sketching.
Laubin oboe number 1462 (this numbering includes some of the approximately 200 English horns) has just been completed (February, 1977) in the shop in Elmsford, where Alfred's son Paul, continues to produce Laubin oboes and English horns. Today Laubin instruments are in use by some of America's leading players, as well as players in Japan, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, the Soviet Union, and Israel.
Thomas Stacy is the English horn player of the New York Philharmonic - Ed.
The following is from a letter from Bert Gassman, longtime principal oboist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, now retired.
"Your letter was the first word I had of the passing of my dear friend Al Laubin, a friend I have known since the mid-thirties when the Cleveland Orchestra played in Hartford, Connecticut and a very soft-spoken young man requested me and the other members of the oboe section to try an oboe he had made. We were immensely impressed with his first attempt. Again when I was with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the late forties, Al Laubin made me a very special oboe; I remember showing it to John Minsker and John deLancie when the Philadelphia Orchestra played at Carnegie Hall and they were equally impressed. I used the Laubin oboe and English horn after my AK and AL Loree oboes were played out and found that the Laubin excelled in tuning and tone quality beyond all other makes, and I recommended the Laubin instruments to my students, and whenever the Los Angeles Philharmonic toured (to Japan, Europe, the "Iron Curtain" countries, etc.) to the oboists of these countries as well.
Al Laubin never changed. His gentle manner, his help and kindness will never be forgotten by me. My last season before retirement I spent performing in Japan with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. The weather was extremely cold, and because of the Arab embargo, the concert halls were often without heat, so not surprisingly my oboe developed a crack. I called Al and he made me two special instruments and shipped them to me within three weeks--in time to use for my final solo appearance. He was a dedicated master craftsman and a dear friend. I'm sure that he leaves many people indebted to him for his dedicated research and creativity."
