Thursday 10 June 2021

Institution nationale des Invalides - Paris

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Institution nationale des Invalides - Paris

Tribute to Hubert Germain, last French Resistance fighter

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At the Invalides, the horn paid a very simple yet deeply moving tribute to Hubert Germain, the last French Resistance fighter. As a precaution in the current health context, he attended the ceremony from his room, with the windows open.

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To honour Hubert Germain, the FRTM and the François Sommer Foundation for Hunting and Nature, had asked the writer Étienne de Montety – who was awarded the Académie française’s literature prize, the Grand Prix du roman, in 2020 – to write an Ode to the former Resistance fighter. Composer Sylvain Oudot set this poem to music for choir and grand ensemble of hunting horns. It was performed by the French Army Choir, conducted by Colonel Aurore Tillac, and by the sounders of the Institut Musical Dromer, Guyaume Vollet, Romain Renard, Jérome Amelot, Gustave Cuypers, Guillaume Cintrat and Guillaume Lekeux, conducted by Nicolas Dromer.
The FRTM had also commissioned Sylvain Oudot to create a fanfare, La Hubert Germain, which was performed for him on the same occasion.
The FRTM had moreover also commissioned Nicolas Dromer to adapt the Marseillaise and the Chant des Partisans for the hunting horn, which resounded with splendour and melancholy in this symbolic place of military glory.
On this memorable sunny afternoon, at historical sites in Paris worthy of the hunting horn’s place in the national heritage, it could truly sound the glory of France and its people through its noble participation in the ceremony in tribute to Hubert Germain.

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Photo: © Philippe de Poulpiquet

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