Jacques-Louis Monod

Jacques-Louis Monod

Jacques-Louis Monod (born February 25, 1927 in Asnières-sur-Seine ) is an American composer , conductor and music theorist of French origin.

Life

Monod, born in a north-western suburb of Paris , came from a wealthy, Protestant French family. He was considered a musical child prodigy . He studied music, composition and conducting at the Conservatoire de Paris , where he received a diploma in 1952. His teachers included Yves Nat and Olivier Messiaen . With Messiaen he attended lectures in harmony and music analysis ; with Herbert von Karajan , who was active as a guest lecturer, he attended a master class. He also received private lessons from his godfather, Paul-Silva Hérard, who was the organist at the Parisian Église Saint-Ambroise.

From 1944 he studied privately with René Leibowitz for five years . The encounter with Leibowitz initiated Monod's later engagement with modern composers such as Arnold Schönberg , Anton Webern and Alban Berg . From the late 1940s, Monod emerged as an interpreter of the music by these composers; as a pianist and conductor he participated in numerous premieres. In 1948 he accompanied Leibowitz to his composition course at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt . In 1949, on the occasion of Arnold Schönberg's 75th birthday, he played the piano part in Schönberg's Fantasy for Violin and Piano , op. 47, in the European premiere of this work in Paris under the direction of René Leibowitz .

Further music studies took place at the University of Music and the Municipal Conservatory for Music in Berlin . Monod attended composition courses with Boris Blacher and seminars in music analysis with Josef Rufer . In the early 1950s he followed Leibowitz to the United States. As part of a graduate degree, further studies followed at the Juilliard School of Music and, from the early 1950s, at Columbia University , where he obtained a Doctor of Musical Arts .

In the 1950s he performed numerous pieces by composers of the Second Viennese School as a pianist . Recordings were also made . Under the musical direction of Leibowitz, he recorded the Chamber Concerto for piano and violin with 13 wind instruments (1924/25) by Alban Berg and the Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte op. 41 by Arnold Schönberg. For the Dial Records label , Monod recorded 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 , the piano variations, op 27 , the four songs for voice and orchestra, op. 12 (1914–1918) (with Monod on piano and the soprano Bethany Beardslee ) and the quartet for violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone and piano, opus 22 (1928–1930).

In December 1950, a chamber music concert with music by Alban Berg followed at the Juilliard School of Music. Monod and Beardslee performed, among other things, Berg's Seven Early Songs (1905–1908, published in 1928) and the Four Songs for a voice with piano from “The Pain His Right” . In March 1952, Monod directed 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) in New York City . As a conductor, Monod also stood up for the music of Igor Stravinsky and Edgar Varèse . In January 1954 he performed Stravinsky's Japanese Songs with Beardslee at Carnegie Hall . In December 1955, the American premiere of Varèses composition Déserts took place in the Town Hall under the direction of Monod . Monod and Beardslee gave numerous concerts of modern music in the following years. In 1956 Monod received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in recognition of his commitment to modern music.

In the 1960s, Monod went to London . From 1960 to 1966/1967 he was chief conductor for contemporary music on the classical programs of BBC Radio 3 . He has directed numerous world premieres and premieres with works by Roberto Gerhard , Peter Maxwell Davies , Ernst Krenek , Luigi Dallapiccola and Luigi Nono . In 1962 and 1963 he conducted the world premiere of Roberto Gerhard's Concert for Eight with the Melos Ensemble and its Hymnody with the Virtuoso Ensemble . In 1963 he also conducted Gerhards soundtrack for the film This Sporting Life by Lindsay Anderson ; from this a record was made.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Monod directed other world premieres and premieres of modern music and recorded them for the record. A recording of Elliott Carter's composition Suite from Pocahontus was made for Epic Records with Monod and the Zurich Radio Symphony Orchestra . He also performed with the London Sinfonietta Seymour Shifrins (1926–1979) composition Three Pieces for Orchestra (recorded in 1962, published in 1966) and with the Melos Ensemble the Serenade, Op. 24 by Arnold Schönberg. In 1967 he conducted at the Sanders Theater of Harvard University with Bethany Beardslee as soloist Schoenberg's melodrama Pierrot Lunaire , op. 21 (1912).

In the early 1970s, Monod became an associate professor at Columbia University's Music Department, teaching ear training , counterpoint , music analysis, and orchestration . In 1975 he founded the Association for the Promotion of New Music in New York City . Monod taught at Columbia University until the late 1970s. 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, composition theory and conducting.

Monod continued to conduct modern music in New York City through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1985 he conducted Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire again with Bethany Beardslee in the Merkin Concert Hall in New York . The New York Times described Monod as the "Guardian of the Schoenberg Flame".

Monod's own compositions, with a focus on chamber music and choral music, are in the tradition of the Vienna School, especially in the succession of Anton Webern. The cycle Cantus Contra Cantum is considered to be his most important work .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jacques-Louis Monod (PDF file; 1.48 MB) Short biography ( University of Bath )
2. ^ The Juilliard Journal Online
3. ↑ Carter, Elliott. Suite from Pocahontas. Zurich Radio Orchestra. Jacques Monod, conductor
4. ↑ Seymour Shifrin DRAMonline
5. ↑ Jacques-Louis Monod and Chamber Ensemble The Harvard Crimson (performance review)
6. ↑ Jacques-Louis Monod ( Memento of the original of June 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Brief biography of Columbia University  
7. ^ Association for the Promotion of New Music official website
8. ^ Guild of Composers Concert at Merkin Hall New York Times , March 25, 1985
9. ↑ GUARDIAN OF THE SCHOENBERG FLAME  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. New York Times , March 10, 1985  
10. ↑ New Calliope Singers - New Cantatas and Madrigals ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. DRAMonline  
11. ↑ MUSIC: GUILD OF COMPOSERS CONCERT New York Times , February 5, 1987