Alfred Loewenguth (15 June 1911 – 11 November 1983) was a 20th-century French classical

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

Biography

Loewenguth began learning the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

at age 8 and had his first student at 12. At 16, he entered the

Conservatoire de Paris 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 ...

and started his violin school at 17. At 19, he won the first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris and the first medals of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

and

solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, Western music. Solfège is ...

. There, he was a pupil of André Tourret and

Jean Roger-Ducasse Jean Jules Aimable Roger-Ducasse (Bordeaux, 18 April 1873 – Le Taillan-Médoc ( Gironde), 19 July 1954) was a French composer. Biography Jean Roger-Ducasse studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Émile Pessard and André Gedalge, and was t ...

for chamber music. In 1929, he created the

Loewenguth Quartet The Loewenguth Quartet was a string quartet music ensemble led by the French violinist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 1930s ...

to which later also belonged his brother, cellist Roger Loewenguth. But the Loewenguth Quartet's "grand formation" was composed of Alfred Loewenguth (1st violin), Maurice Fueri (2nd violin), Roger Roche (viola) and Pierre Basseux (cello). This

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

enjoyed an international reputation and recorded numerous discs from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

, with a preference for

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and

French music ''French music'' may refer to: * Music of France, music of the French people in France ''French music'' may also refer to the music of French-speaking countries: *Music of Quebec, music of the French-Canadians in Canada, most often Québécois or ...

. He won a Grand Prix du disque for the quartets by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

(

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

). In 1959, he founded the "Orchestres de jeunes Alfred Loewenguth" (OJAL), and created the Sceaux Orangerie music festival in 1969. He also founded and directed the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as the neuvième (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is loc ...

conservatory, taught at the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

conservatory, the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded i ...

, and the International Academy of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. Although he devoted most of his musical activity to pedagogy and chamber music, with his quartet or as a duo (for more than fifty years with pianist

Françoise Doreau Françoise Doreau (born 2 March, 1910 – died 20 July 2011 at age 101), was a French classical pianist. Life Doreau began studying piano at a very young age and entered the Conservatoire de Paris in Marguerite Long's class at the age of 13, wh ...

), he also had a career as a soloist. The film director

Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot (; born 5 February 1947) is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. Life and career Born in Paris, Jacquot began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films, inclu ...

devoted a documentary "Enfance Musique"Enfance Musique
/ref> to him in 1979.

References

External links

''Alfred Loewenguth portrait d’un violoniste pédagogue''
on ''

La Lettre du musicien ''La Lettre du musicien'' is a periodical music magazine published in Paris, France, fifteen times a year for music professionals. Created in 1984, it is devoted to classical and electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular ...

''
Les orchestres de jeunes Alfred Loewenguth

Festival de l'Orangerie de Sceaux

1955, 56, 64.
''Un orchestre d'enfants dirigé par Alfred Loewenguth''
*
Schubert - Quatuor Loewenguth (1958) - String Quintet in C major D. 956
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Loewenguth, Alfred 20th-century French male classical violinists Conservatoire de Paris alumni 1911 births 1983 deaths