Charles Lamoureux (musician)

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Charles Lamoureux

Charles Lamoureux (born September 28, 1834 in Bordeaux , † December 21, 1899 in Paris ) was a French conductor and violinist .

Life

The son of a café owner went to Paris , where he studied violin as well as harmony, counterpoint and composition with Auguste Tolbecque , Simon Leborne and Alexis Chauvet at the Paris Conservatory with Narcisse Girard and received two first and one second prizes between 1853 and 1855. During this time he already worked as a musician in the orchestra of the Opéra de Paris ; In 1858 he founded a string quartet, which also included Édouard Colonne , and in 1860 he was one of the initiators of the Séances Populaires de Musique de Chambre . He also joined the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire . In 1872 he founded another string quartet, to which the cellist Auguste Tolbecque also belonged.

While traveling through England and Germany he got to know the great oratorios by Bach and Handel . To make this known in Paris, he founded the Société de l'Harmonie Sacrée in 1873 , with which he performed Handel's Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus , Bach's St. John Passion , but also Gallia by Charles Gounod and Ève by Jules Massenet .

In 1881 Lamoureux founded the Société des Nouveaux-Concerts , which gave Sunday afternoon concerts and soon became known as Concerts Lamoureux des Orchester Lamoureux and were under his direction until 1897. Even today (2016) the association, which is under the direction of eminent conductors, gives Sunday concerts in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées or in the Salle Gaveau .

Lamoureux made a contribution to the dissemination of Richard Wagner's works , among other things he directed the Paris premiere of Lohengrin in 1887 , for which Wagner had personally authorized him on a visit to Bayreuth . His successor was his son-in-law, Camille Chevillard . In 1899, shortly before his death, he conducted the performance of Tristan und Isolde in Paris.

Lamoureux, who had a large fortune from his marriage to Marie-Pauline Mussot, was considered self-centered and contentious. His positions at major opera houses were always short-lived and usually ended abruptly.

Web links

Commons : Charles Lamoureux  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. Lamoureux, Charles. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 10 (Kemp - Lert). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1120-9 , Sp. 1112 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)