Jacques-Louis Monod
Jacques -Louis Monod ( born February 25, 1927 in Asnières- sur -Seine ) is an American composer, conductor and music theoretician of French origin.
Life
Monod, who was born in a northwestern suburb of Paris, came from a wealthy, French Protestant family. He was considered a child prodigy. He studied music, composition and conducting at the Conservatoire de Paris, where in 1952 he received a diploma. His teachers have included Yves Nat and Olivier Messiaen. For Messiaen, he attended lectures in harmony and musical analysis; Herbert von Karajan, who was a guest lecturer, he attended a master class. He also received private lessons from his godfather, Paul Silva Hérard, who was organist at the Paris Église Saint -Ambroise.
From 1944 he studied for five years privately with René Leibowitz. The encounter with Leibowitz initiated the subsequent employment with Monod's modern composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg. Monod came from the late 1940s, particularly as an interpreter of the music of these composers forth; as a pianist and as a conductor, he has participated in numerous premieres. In 1948 he accompanied Leibowitz to its composition course at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt. In 1949 he played in Paris under the direction of René Leibowitz, on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Arnold Schoenberg, the piano part in Schoenberg's Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op 47. Within the European premiere of this work
More music studies were carried out at the University of Music and at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Berlin. Monod attended composition classes with Boris Blacher and seminars in music analysis with Josef Rufer. In the early 1950s he followed Leibowitz in the United States. As part of a graduate student was followed by further studies at the Juilliard School of Music and from the early 1950s at Columbia University, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts.
In the 1950s, he served as pianist on numerous pieces by composers of the Second Viennese School. It also emerged recordings. Under the musical direction of Leibowitz he took to the Chamber Concerto for piano and violin with 13 wind instruments (1924 /25) by Alban Berg and the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op 41 by Arnold Schoenberg. For the label Dial Records originated with Monod recordings of chamber music by Anton Webern, including the Symphony, Op 21 (1928 ) with the Paris Chamber Orchestra under the direction of René Leibowitz, the Concerto for 9 Instruments, Op 24 Piano Variations, op. 27. Four Songs for Voice and Orchestra, op 12 (1914-1918 ) ( with Monod at the piano and soprano Bethany Beardslee ) and the Quartet for violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone and piano, opus 22 ( 1928-1930 )
In December 1950, followed at the Juilliard School of Music, a chamber music concert of music by Alban Berg. Monod and Beardslee led, among other things, Berg's Seven Early Songs (1905-1908, 1928 published ), and the Four Songs for Voice and Piano from " The pain of his right " to. In March 1952 Monod conducted in New York City, the world premiere of Webern's Three Traditional Rhymes, for voice, violin, clarinet and bass clarinet, Opus 17 (1924 ), and Three Songs on Hildegard Jones for Voice and Piano, Opus 23 (1934 ). Monod sat down as a conductor also one for the music of Igor Stravinsky and Edgar Varese. In January 1954, he led with Beardslee at Carnegie Hall Stravinsky's Japanese songs. In December 1955 took place in the Town Hall under the direction of Monod the American premiere of Varèse's composition Deserts. Monod and Beardslee gave in the following years numerous concerts with contemporary music. Monod in 1956 received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in recognition of his work for contemporary music.
In the 1960s, Monod went to London. It was from 1960 bis 1966/1967 Principal Conductor of Contemporary Music of the Classical programs on BBC Radio 3, he has directed numerous world premieres and first performances of works by Roberto Gerhard, Peter Maxwell Davies, Ernst Krenek, Luigi Dallapiccola Luigi Nono and. 1962 and 1963 he conducted the world premiere of Roberto Gerhard's Concert for Eight with the Melos Ensemble and of the Hymnody with the Virtuoso Ensemble. In 1963, he also conducted Gerhards soundtrack to the film of laurel Alluring Lindsay Anderson; thereof was also a recording session.
In the 1960s and early 1970s led Monod more premieres and first performances of modern music and played this one for the record. For Epic Records originated with Monod and the Radio Sinfonie-Orchester Zurich a recording of Elliott Carter's composition Suite from Pocahontus. He also recorded with the London Sinfonietta Shifrins Seymour (1926-1979) Composition Three Pieces for Orchestra ( 1962 recording, released 1966) and with the Melos Ensemble, the Serenade, Op. 24 by Arnold Schoenberg. In 1967 he conducted at the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University with Bethany Beardslee as a soloist Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire melodrama, op 21 (1912).
Early 1970s was Monod Associate Professor at the Music Department of Columbia University, where he taught ear training, counterpoint, orchestration and musical analysis. In 1975 he founded in New York City, the Association for the Promotion of New Music. Monod taught until the end of the 1970s at Columbia University. In the 1980s, he taught music theory and music analysis at the Sorbonne. In the 1990s, he was a lecturer at the Juilliard School in the subjects of music theory, music analysis, theory of composition and conducting.
In the 1970s and 1980s Monod occurred in New York City continue as conductor of Modern Music. In 1985, he conducted the New York Merkin Concert Hall once again Pierrot Lunaire Schoenberg with Bethany Beardslee. The New York Times called Monod as " Guardian of the Schoenberg Flame".
Monod's own compositions, mainly chamber music and choral music, in the tradition of the Viennese School, especially in the wake of Anton Webern. As his most important work applies the cycle Cantus Contra Cantum.