Jacques Merlet

Jacques Merlet (born December 5, 1931 in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande , Département Gironde ; † August 2, 2014 in Paris ) was a French musicologist and music journalist who worked for decades as an editor at Radio France and an organ specialist for early music and young Promoted talent.

Life

At the end of the war, the 13-year-old became interested in organ music from an early age. He completed a musicological degree at the Paris Conservatory with the main instruments organ and piano. Olivier Messiaen was one of his teachers . His particular passion was the Baroque music era .

After he succeeded in filling a music editor's post at the national radio, he worked for more than 30 years, first for Welle France Culture and later for France Musique as an editor , music producer and presenter .

Above all, Merlet loved making musical discoveries and sharing them with others. He was a strong communicator and was at the center of music society life. His large circle of friends, made up of musicians, event organizers and fellow journalists, often met for banquets in his large artist studio apartment on Rue Jouffroy . In 1998 Merlet received the medal of the Confrérie de la Lamproie of the city of Sainte-Terre .

He made a significant contribution to making international young musicians such as Jean-Claude Malgoire , William Christie , Jordi Savall and Philippe Herreweghe known throughout France. In France and Spain he fought for the preservation of important historical church organs.

As of November 2000, his motor skills and his ability to speak were impaired by a stroke . He was able to counter the reception of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the hand of the French Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon in January 2003 with a speech of thanks. A second apoplexy in 2005 made him a wheelchair user and need for care in the Paris retirement home Villa Lecourbe. Merlet died in August 2014 of pneumonia .

Web links

• Mort de Jacques Merlet, producteur à France Musique. Obituary by Renaud Machart in Le Monde on August 2, 2014 (French)

supporting documents

1. ↑ Contribution Merlets to Handel's Opera seria and today's Regietheater , International Handel Academy Karlsruhe 1990 and 1991, accessed August 2, 2014
2. ↑ "Les Rencontres de Fénétrange" ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 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. Festival recording about J. Merlet as a producer for Radio France, accessed August 2, 2014 (French)  
3. ↑ l'Ensemble “Musica Antiqua Mediterranea” , including an example for Les Muses en dialogue by Jacques Merlet, accessed on August 2, 2014.
4. ↑ Praise for the presenter Merlet as an unconventional France Musique radio man, who exuded a lot of laughter and lightness on the air (French), accessed August 2, 2014.
5. ↑ http://www.festesdethalie.org/amisdejmerlet.htm (French)
6. ↑ Illustration of the award ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 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. 
7. ↑ see obituary in Le Monde
8. ↑ Discours prononcé par M. Hugues R. Gall pour l'installation de M. William Christie à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts , le mercredi 27 janvier 2010 (French), accessed August 2, 2014.
9. ↑ Le cerveau, un organe vertigineux - 2ème partie , France Inter radio broadcast November 11, 2011, accessed August 2, 2014 (French)