Elise Hall

Elise Hall, 1905

Elise Hall (* 15. April 1853 in Paris as Elizabeth Boyer Coolidge ; † 27. November 1924 in Boston ) was an US -American saxophonist and music patron .

Life

Elise Hall, from a well-known Boston family, spent the first years of her life in France. In 1879 she married Richard J. Hall, the first American surgeon to successfully perform an appendectomy . In order to stop the progression of a hearing loss that began in the 1890s, she began learning to play the saxophone on her husband's advice. After his death in 1898, Elise Hall took lessons from Georges Longy , the first oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from France . In order to give amateur musicians the opportunity to play orchestras, Hall supported the establishment of the Boston Orchestra Club financially and took over the presidency in 1904.

In addition, given the small repertoire for saxophone and orchestra, Elise Hall commissioned compositions. The first went to Charles Martin Loeffler , whose Divertissement espagnol pour orchester et saxophon Hall premiered in 1901, with very positive reviews in the Boston Journal . In the following years a total of 22 commissioned works for saxophone with orchestra were created almost exclusively by French composers, including André Caplet ( Impression d'automne , Légende ), Philippe Gaubert ( Poème Elégiaque ), Gabriel Grovlez ( Suite ), Vincent d'Indy ( Choral Varié ) or Florent Schmitt ( Légende op.66 ). The most prominent representative was Claude Debussy , who received Hall's commission and advance fee in the summer of 1901, with Georges Longy acting as the middleman. The composition did not come to a conclusion during Debussy's lifetime, however, it was only brought into a performable version posthumously and was printed and premiered as Rapsodie pour orchester et saxophone in 1919. The client, meanwhile almost deaf, no longer found an opportunity to perform the work. Her last known appearance took place in January 1920.

In connection with a performance at the Nouveau Théâtre in Paris in May 1904, derogatory statements about Elise Hall have been passed down, which mainly allude to her eye-catching clothing and the solo instrument, which is particularly unusual for a woman. Debussy, who had difficulties with his composition, also made ironic comments about her. However, a Parisian review in 1904 recognized her good game and even the New York Times reported that Hall was a success. In the spring of 1905 Elise Hall performed again in Paris, this time in the Salle Pleyel . Le Monde musical emphasized the soloist's pleasant tone and strong artistic feeling.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Ingham: The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone . Cambridge University Press, 1998, Appendix. ISBN 9780521593489
2. ↑ Elise Boyer Coolidge Hall

literature

• James R. Noyes: Debussy's "Rapsodie pour orchester et saxophone" . The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 90, No. 3/4 (Fall - Winter, 2007), pp. 416–445. Oxford University Press ( limited preview, subscription required)

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