Gaston Poulet (10 April 1892 – 14 April 1974) was a French
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, ...
and conductor. He played an important part in the diffusion of the contemporary music of the first half of the 20th century. His son
Gérard Poulet
Gérard (Georges) Poulet (born 12 August 1938) is a French classical violinist.
Biography
Born in Bayonne the son of conductor Gaston Poulet, Poulet started studying the violin at age five. At 11 he entered the Conservatoire de Paris in André ...
, born in 1938, is also a violinist.
Life and career
Born in Paris, Poulet 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 ...
in 1904, studying under Lefort and
Jean Huré
Jean-Louis Charles Huré (17 September 1877 – 27 January 1930) was a French composer and organist. Though educated in music at a monastery in Angers, he was mostly self-taught.
Life
Born in Gien, Loiret, Huré studied anthropology, Musical comp ...
, and winning a first prize in 1910 in violin.
[ Alain Pâris. ''Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle.'' ]Éditions Robert Laffont
Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium.
It is considered one of the most ...
, Paris, 1995 ().
Noticed by
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
, Poulet soon became recognized as one of the leading violinists of his generation and was taken on as leader of the orchester for performances by the Ballets Russes. He thus took part in many premieres by the company of
Serge Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pat ...
.
In 1914 he founded an eponymous string quartet with Henri Giraud (violin), Albert Leguillard (viola)et Louis Ruyssen (cello).
He was called up for service during the First World War but after illness was invalided out, and then continued chamber music work with his partners. Their repertoire extended to contemporary works such as the
quartet
In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...
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 ...
. Poulet was then offered the creation of the
violin sonata
A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed form ...
by Debussy, on 5 May 1917 at the
salle Gaveau
The Salle Gaveau, named after the French piano maker Gaveau, is a classical concert hall in Paris, located at 45-47 rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It is particularly intended for chamber music.
Construction
The plans for th ...
in Paris, accompanied by the composer. This concert, in aid of the ''Foyer du soldat aveugle'', Poulet also played the ''
Symphonie espagnole
The ''Symphonie espagnole'' in D minor, Op. 21, is a work for violin and orchestra by Édouard Lalo.
History
The work was written in 1874 for violinist Pablo Sarasate, and premiered in Paris on February 7, 1875.
Although called a "Spanish Sympho ...
'' by
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer. His most celebrated piece is the ''Symphonie espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra, which remains a popular work in the standard reper ...
.
From the 1920s, Poulet slowly reduced his playing in favour of conducting. In 1926 he led the first performance at the
salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...
of the ''Concerts Poulet'' (later merged with the Concerts
Robert Siohan). This orchestral series particularly featured music by young composers, and included premieres of works by
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
,
Florent Schmitt
Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' (Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of th ...
,
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...
,
André Caplet
André Caplet (23 November 1878 – 22 April 1925) was a French composer and conductor of classical music. He was a friend of Claude Debussy and completed the orchestration of several of Debussy's compositions as well as arrangements of severa ...
and member of
groupe des Six
"Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in '' ...
. The weekly concerts were held at the
Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt up to 1932.
In 1932, Poulet became Director of the Conservatoire in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
and founded a concert series there entitled the Association des Professeurs du Conservatoire, in 1943 becoming l'Orchestre philharmonique de Bordeaux. Poulet also appears outside France during these years, in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
and
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. During the war years he also led the Concerts Colonne (for that period called Concerts Pierné) alongside
Louis Fourestier Louis (Félix André) Fourestier (31 May 1892 – 30 September 1976) was a French conductor, composer and pedagogue, and was one of the founders of the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris.
Early years, compositions and prizes
Fourestier was born in Mo ...
and
François Ruhlmann
François Ruhlmann (11 January 1868 – 8 June 1948) was a Belgian conductor.
Life and career
Born in Brussels, Ruhlmann was a pupil of Joseph Dupont in his native city. As a child he sang in the chorus at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, a ...
.
In 1944 he left the Conservatoire de Bordeaux to become a professor of chamber music at 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 ...
, remaining there until 1962.
He began the Festival de musique de
Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...
in 1948 which attracted international attention, complemented from 1951 by a conducting competition.
Discography
With his Concerts Poulet Orchestra, he recorded with French Decca:
Mendelssohn Symphony No.4 in A Op.90 “Italian”, the Introduction & Bridal procession from Rimsky-Korsakov's ''
The Golden Cockerel
''The Golden Cockerel'' ( rus, Золотой петушок, Zolotoy petushok ) is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his last opera he completed before his death in 1908. ...
'' (1930), Weber's overture to ''
Euryanthe
''Euryanthe'' ( J. 291, Op. 81) is a German grand heroic-romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna on 25 October 1823.Brown, p. 88 Though acknowledged as one of Weber's most important operas, ...
'' and Saint-Saens's Wedding Cake - Caprice Op.76 (with Janine Weill) (1930–31), excerpts from Stravinsky's ''Petrushka'' (with
Jean Doyen Jean Doyen (8 March 1907 – 21 April 1982) was a French classical pianist, pedagogue and composer.
Biography
Born in Paris, Doyen graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris as pianist in 1922. He began learning the instrument with Sophie Chéné ...
) and the third and fourth songs of Mussorgsky's
Songs and Dances of Death
''Songs and Dances of Death'' (russian: Песни и пляски смерти, ''Pesni i plyaski smerti'') is a song cycle for voice (usually bass or bass-baritone) and piano by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems b ...
with Antoinette Tikanova.
[Stuart, Philip]
''Decca Classical, 1929–2009''
retrieved 28 May 2015
During the war he recorded Iberia and the Franck Symphonic Variations (with Yves Nat) with the Concerts pierné.
[Morin, Philippe. Une nouvelle politique discographique pour la France. In : Myriam Chimènes (ed.) : ''La vie musicale sous Vichy'', Paris, 2001, p. 258.]
With the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
Poulet made recordings of
Elizalde's Violin Concerto with the 14-year-old
Christian Ferras
Christian Ferras (17 June 1933 – 14 September 1982) was a French violinist.
Early years
Ferras was born at Le Touquet in 1933. He began studying the violin with his father. He entered the Conservatoire de Nice as a student of Charles Bistesi i ...
(
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
, 1947), Spanish orchestral miniatures by Albeniz, Granados, Falla and Turina (MGM, 1953), Saint-Saens
Violin Concerto No.3 in B minor Op.61 with
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...
(H.M.V., 1953) and orchestral works by
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
and
Fauré (M.G.M., 1953–54).
[The LSO Discography by Philip Stuart](_blank)
accessed 9 June 2014.
External links
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poulet, Gaston
1892 births
1974 deaths
Musicians from Paris
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
20th-century French conductors (music)
French male conductors (music)
20th-century French male classical violinists