Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux ( April 4, 1875 in Paris, † July 1, 1964 in Hancock, Maine, USA ) was a French- American conductor.

Life an interaction

Pierre Monteux worked for a violin studies at the Paris Conservatory first as a violinist at the Folies- Bergère and the viola in Geloso quartet and played while still before Brahms, who was one of his favorite composers later. For 17 years he was the first violist in the " Orchestre des Concerts Colonne " in Paris. First experience as a conductor, he gained especially in the casino orchestra in Dieppe. Monteux took until 1917 in the First World War, was released for participating in a U.S. tour of "Ballet Russes ". He fell on Diaghilev and Stravinsky, and conducted the first performances of Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. In the latter, there was tumultuous riots in the audience; Monteux conducted the performance in stoic calm to the end and was henceforth known. As a result, he received an engagement at the Metropolitan Opera for the French repertoire, he was chief conductor of the orchestra in Boston (1919-1924), Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam (1924-1934, as second conductor, alongside Mengelberg ), Paris (1929 -1938 ), San Francisco ( 1937-1952 ) and London ( 1961 ). He was also from 1917 to 1919 and from 1953 to 1956 worked at the Metropolitan Opera.

A popular guest conductor he has performed among others with the Vienna Philharmonic. His record companies made ​​him especially works by French and Russian composers import. He himself drew Beethoven, Brahms and Wagner before. His recording of the Chicago Symphony in D Minor by César Franck from 1961 is considered to this day unmatched reference recording. Outstanding are his recordings of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, Elgar's Enigma Variations, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and from Jules Massenet's opera Manon. As early as 1932 began Monteux to organize courses for aspiring conductors. In Paris he founded in 1934 which still exists today conducting school " École Monteux ," which he moved in 1943 to his retirement home in Hancock. His students include André Previn, Neville Marriner, David Zinman and Erich Kunzel. Under Monteux came alongside the works of Stravinsky works by Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Anthteil premiered.

He was married three times and is the father of the flutist and conductor Claude Monteux. His 1965 born in Germany grandson Kirk Monteux, classical guitarist and music producer, continues the musical tradition of his family with the artistic possibilities of modern compositional techniques.

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