Louis Devos

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Louis Devos (born June 15, 1926 in Brussels ; † January 22, 2015 ibid) was a Belgian opera singer ( tenor ) and conductor .

Life

Devos studied Latin and Greek cello at the Brussels Conservatory . In 1948 he went to Austria for further studies , where he played for two years as a musician in various orchestras. He studied singing at the Graz State Music Academy . In 1950 he founded the Ensemble Musica Polyphonica , with which he performed early music . With the ensemble he recorded oratorical and sacred music works for the record . Today, the recordings are considered to be of great musical historical and interpretational value.

He had his first vocal performance as a tenor in 1950 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in the role of Tom Rakewell in a performance of the opera The Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky . In 1952 he sang the tenor role in the European premiere of Stravinsky's vocal work Cantata for soprano, tenor, female choir and instrumental ensemble in Brussels . In 1954 he took part in the world premiere of the radio opera Orestes von Henk Badings . Since 1956 he has appeared with the Munich Philharmonic , where he sang works of modern music under conductors such as Hermann Scherchen and Pierre Boulez . In 1957 he made a guest appearance at the Dublin Opera House as Idamante in Idomeneo . He sang in world premieres of works by the Swiss composer Frank Martin , for example in the oratorio Mystère de la Nativité in December 1959 in Geneva with Elly Ameling (soprano) and Ernest Ansermet (conductor). In 1964 he took part in the world premiere of Martin's oratorio Pilatus in Rome . In 1972 he sang in Krzysztof Penderecki's vocal work Utrenja in Cologne . In 1974, on the occasion of Arnold Schönberg's 100th birthday, he sang the title role of Aron in Schönberg's opera Moses und Aron in an ORF radio production in Vienna and in the Salzburg Festival Hall .

Devos has made guest appearances at La Scala in Milan , at Covent Garden Opera in London , in Madrid and at the Amsterdam Opera House ; He appeared regularly in Munich and at the Brussels Opera House (La Monnaie / De Munt).

He was professor of singing at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Conservatory of Amsterdam and the Conservatory of Maastricht . He was a jury member at the International Singing Competition in Geneva , the International Singing Competition of 's-Hertogenbosch (twice chairman there), the Queen Elisabeth Competition (International Koningin-Elisabethwedstrijd; Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth) in Brussels, at the International Johann-Sebastian- Bach competition in Leipzig and at the singing competition in Belgrade .

In recent years, Devos has mainly emerged as a conductor. For his first recording of an unpublished Requiem by the composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier , Devos was awarded the Prix Mondial du Disque ( Montreux ). In 1989 Louis Devos discovered a second, hitherto unknown version of the “Grande Messe des Morts” (Requiem) by François-Joseph Gossec . For his recording of the work (published among other things by Warner Classics ) Devos received another Grand Prix du Disque; the prize was presented to him by Jacques Chirac in the Hôtel de Ville in Paris .

Devos died in January 2015 at the age of 88, the death being announced by his son Eric Devos.

repertoire

Devos' repertoire included on the one hand mainly works of early music and baroque music ; on the other hand, he was particularly regarded as an interpreter of modern works. His repertoire included: the title role in L'Orfeo , Mercure in Platée by Jean-Philippe Rameau , Gonzalve in L'Heure espagnole , the Fischer in Le rossignol , the title role in Oedipus Rex and Andres in Wozzeck . Other roles included a. Ismael in Nabucco , the singer in Der Rosenkavalier and (as a vocal borderline role) Florestan in Fidelio .

Audio documents

The voice of Louis Devos has been documented in numerous recordings on records and in radio recordings.

In 1974 Philips released a recording of Schönberg's Moses und Aron with Devos as Aron. It was the soundtrack to a television adaptation of the work by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet ; The conductor was Michael Gielen , the Moses sang Günther Reich . Devos not only recorded the role for the soundtrack, but also portrayed Aron himself in the television film. In 1975 he recorded Damon in Les Indes galantes by Rameau with Erato . Vocal works by Jean-Baptiste Lully have also been published by Erato . At CBS in 1979 a recording of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's musical work Le devin du village was released, in which Devos sings the role of Colin. Other recordings by Devos included a. the oratorio Der Tod Jesu by Carl Heinrich Graun (Erato-RCA), the Magnificat by Jan Dismas Zelenka (Erato-RCA) and the Paroles tissees for tenor and chamber orchestra by Witold Lutosławski (on the Polish label Muza).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Belgian tenor Louis Devos overleden op 88-jarige leeftijd obituary in De Morgen (Dutch). Retrieved January 30, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Devos, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian opera singer (tenor) and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Brussels , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 2015
Place of death Brussels , Belgium