Maurice Hewitt

Maurice Hewitt (born October 6, 1884 in Asnières , † November 7, 1971 in Créteil ) was a French violinist and conductor, as well as a member of the Resistance .

Life

Maurice Hewitt studied violin at the Paris Conservatory . From 1914 he was a member of the Société des Instruments anciens ensemble , and from 1918 to 1930 a member of the Capet Quartet , which devoted itself in particular to the interpretation of Beethoven's string quartets . From 1930 to 1943 he led his own quartet, and in 1941 he founded the Orchester de Chambre Hewitt .

He also founded the Les Discophiles Français record company . Here he published six albums by 1942, including the first recording of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Six Concerts en Sextuor . On other albums appeared u. a. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto KV 622 (with François Étienne ), François Couperin's L'Impériale and L'Apothéose de Lulli as well as Mozart's string trios with the Trio Pasquier ( Jean Pasquier , violin, Pierre Pasquier , viola and Étienne Pasquier , violoncello).

From 1940 Hewitt was active in the Resistance, where he belonged to the network of Colonel Maurice Buckmaster . In 1943 he was denounced and arrested and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944 (prison no. 44007). Here he founded an illegal string quartet with Polish inmates.

After the liberation, in 1945 he gave a concert with Gabriel Fauré's "Requiem" in memory of the French who were deported to Germany and died there . Hewitt was active as a conductor and music teacher until the 1950s.

literature

• Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937-1945. Accompanying volume for the permanent historical exhibition. ed. from the Buchenwald Memorial, Göttingen 1999

Web links

• Arrival of a group of prominent French from the Buchenwald concentration camp in Paris, including Hewitt