Désiré Defauw (5 September 1885,
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
– 25 July 1960,
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...
, United States) was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
conductor and
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 regu ...
ist.
During World War I he became a refugee, working in London where in 1917 he appeared at the
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...
performing John Ireland's Violin Sonata No. 2 with the composer at the piano.
[Phillips, Bruce. "John Ireland's Chamber Music" in Foreman (2011): p. 227]
He was professor of conducting at the
Brussels Conservatory and was the first conductor of the
Orchestre National de Belgique from 1937. He left Belgium for North America in 1940 and was music director of the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orch ...
from 1941 to 1952 and also music director of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...
from 1943 to 1947. In 1947 he recorded the
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the CSO and
Mischa Elman as soloist.
Defauw, who later served as music director of the
Grand Rapids Symphony in
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
, from 1954 to 1958, also was a composer. He was simultaneously the conductor of the Bloomington-Normal Symphony Orchestra (IL) from 1953 to 1958 (ref. https://www.mchistory.org/research/finding-aids/collection/bloomington-normal-symphony).
References
Sources
* Foreman, Lewis (ed). ''The John Ireland Companion'' Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2011.
External links
Désiré Defauw biographyat the Bach Cantatas Website
at
Rootsweb
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
1885 births
1960 deaths
Belgian conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Belgian emigrants to the United States
Belgian refugees
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century violinists
20th-century Belgian male musicians
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