Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux (born Paris, 4 April 1875; died Hancock, Maine, 14 July 1964) was a French-born conductor who later became an American citizen. He was one of the great conductors of his time.

Life

Monteux was born in Paris and started to learn the violin when he was six. When he was nine he learned at the Paris Conservatoire. When he was twelve he conducted an orchestra in Paris with the pianist Alfred Cortot as soloist. He played in orchestras, and was the principal of the viola section in the first performance of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. He started to conduct some of the concerts in the series Concerts Colonne.

Monteux also played his viola in chamber music. He played a string quartet by Brahms with the composer in the audience.

Monteux soon became famous as a conductor. He conducted the orchestra for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, conducting the first performances of Stravinskys 'Petrouchka, Rite of Spring as well as Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Debussy’s Jeux. These were some of the greatest ballets of the 20th century.

In 1916 Monteux went to the USA and conducted the French operas at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1920 he moved to Boston, conducting many new works by Debussy, Chausson, Darius Milhaud and others. In 1924 he became assistant conductor at the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam. He started the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris in 1929, and also a school for conducting, the École Monteux, in Paris. Later he continued this teaching in his American home in Maine. Neville Marriner and André Previn were two of his pupils.

In 1936 he became conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He stayed with this orchestra until 1952. He made this orchestra internationally famous. In 1942 he became an American citizen. In the 1950s he often conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Monteux continued to conduct until shortly before his death at the age of 89. In 1961 he was appointed chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, although he did not live long enough to fulfil this. He conducted this orchestra in 1963 in a performance of the Rite of Spring, fifty years after he had conducted the first performance.

Monteux’s conducting

Monteux always prepared his work very carefully. He was not a conductor who liked to show off. He rehearsed his orchestras thoroughly, and conducted with small gestures. Although he made gramophone recordings, he did not like recordings. He preferred concerts with a live audience. He received many honours, including the Légion d’honneur and the Knight of the Order of Oranje Nassau.

Pierre Monteux Media

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  Monteux during his conductorship of Les Ballets Russes, c. 1912

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  The building which housed the Paris Conservatoire in Monteux's student days (21st century photograph)

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  Monteux as viola player in quartets (2nd from right), with Johannes Wolff, Joseph Hollmann and André Dulaurons, and with Gustave Lyon (Administrateur Délégué of Pleyel) at the rear and Edvard Grieg in front, Salle Pleyel, April 1903.

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  Dancers in Nikolai Roerich's costumes for The Rite of Spring: "knock-kneed and long-haired Lolitas jumping up and down"

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  Germaine, Denise and Pierre Monteux, circa 1919

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  Willem Mengelberg, Monteux's colleague at the Concertgebouw

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  Salle Pleyel, base of the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris

References

• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie; 1980; ISBN 1-56159-174-2