Alfred Jean-Baptiste Lemaire (15 January 1842 – 24 February 1907) was a French military musician and composer. He is known for teaching in the music department of Dar ul-Funun during the reign of King

Nasser-al-Din Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...

, and for composing the first Iranian national anthem.

Life

Lemaire was born in

Aire-sur-la-Lys Aire-sur-la-Lys (, literally ''Aire on the Lys''; vls, Ariën-aan-de-Leie) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography The commune is located 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of Saint-Omer, at the junction ...

and entered the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

in 1855, graduating in flute and composition in 1863. By 1867 he had become Deputy Music Master for the Infantry of the Imperial Guard. When King Nasser-al-Din Shah visited Paris, he admired the French military bands that had welcomed him. At the time Iranian military music had used only traditional drums (

naqareh The ''naqareh'', ''naqqāra'', ''nagara'' or ''nagada'' is a Middle Eastern drum with a rounded back and a hide head, usually played in pairs. It is thus a membranophone of the kettle drum variety. The term ''naqqāra'' (), also ''naqqarat'', ...

) and trumpets (

karnay The karna or karnay (russian: карнай; Arabic, fa, کرنا ''karnā'', ''qarnā'', Hindi ''karnā'', Tajik ''карнай'' ''karnai'', also ''karnaj'', Uzbek ''karnay'', Kazakh ''керней kernei'') is a metal natural trumpet. The ...

). On his return to Iran in 1867 the King asked his ambassador to France, Hassan-Ali Garrussi, to hire a French musician to reorganize his military orchestras along Western European lines.

Adolphe Niel Adolphe Niel (4 October 180213 August 1869) was a French Army general and statesman. He was born at Muret, Haute-Garonne and entered the École Polytechnique in 1821. Niel entered the engineer school at Metz, became lieutenant in the Engineers ...

, then France's Defence Minister, selected Lemaire to take up the post. Once in Iran, Lemaire procured western instruments and organized the training of military musicians at the Dar ul-Funun, where his students included was

Darvish Khan Darvish Khan ( fa, درویش‌خان , Gholam Hossein Darvish; 1872 – 22 November 1926) was a Persian classical musician and a tar player.http://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news.aspx?id=44944 Biography Darvish Khan was born in Tehran. His teac ...

, and Gholam Reza Minbashian (Salar Mo'azez), a leading pioneer of Western classical music in Iran, as well as his son Nasrollah Minbashian. At the request of the King he also composed the first Iranian national anthem and other military pieces. Lemaire was to spend the rest of his life in Iran but sent piano arrangements of classical Persian music back to Paris where the vogue for

orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

made them popular. In November 1906, three months before his death, he became the first Worshipful Master of the ''Réveil de l'Iran'', the first regularly affiliated

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

to operate in Iran. Lemaire died in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

at the age of 65. Mirza Ali-Akbar Khan Naqqashbashi's translations of Lemaire's lessons into Persian were the country's first introduction to European music. The music department where he taught later became an independent music college providing training in Western martial music.Daniel and Mahdī (2006) p. 199 Tombe Lemaire Teheran

References

;Notes ;Sources *Algar, Hamid (2000)
"Freemasonry ii. In the Qajar Period"
''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...

'' *Daniel, Elton L. and Mahdī, Alī Akbar (2006)
''Culture and Customs of Iran''
Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN * *''Le Ménestrel'' (2 August 1885)
"Nouvelles Diverses"
Vol 51, p. 279 *Wright, Owen (2009)
''Touraj Kiaras and Persian Classical Music: An Analytical Perspective''
Ashgate Publishing. , {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemaire, Alfred Jean Baptiste French expatriates in Iran 19th-century French composers Musicians from Tehran People from Aire-sur-la-Lys 1842 births 1907 deaths French Republican Guard Band musicians Iranian Freemasons Burials at Doulab Cemetery