Ginette Neveu (11 August 191928 October 1949) was a French classical
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. She was killed in a plane crash at the age of 30.
Early life
Neveu was born on 11 August 1919 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
into a musical family.
Her brother Jean-Paul became a classical pianist (and her eventual accompanist) and the composer and organist
Charles-Marie Widor
Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of th ...
was their great-uncle.
Neveu's mother was her first teacher.
Neveu made her solo debut at the age of seven with
Bruch's
Violin Concerto No. 1 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 ...
in Paris.
In the same year she performed
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
's
Violin Concerto in E minor with the
Colonne Orchestra under
Gabriel Pierné.
Her parents then decided to send her to study under Line Talluel. Aged nine, she won first prize at the École Supérieure de Musique and the City of Paris Prix d'Honneur. After further studies with
Jules Boucherit
Jules Boucherit (29 March 1877 – 1 April 1962) was a French violinist and renowned violin pedagogue.
Jules Boucherit was born in Morlaix. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris, studying under Jules Garcin. Later he taught at the same conserv ...
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 ...
, she completed her training with instruction from
George Enescu
George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei.
Biogr ...
(who had been
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 t ...
's teacher),
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
From a ...
and
Carl Flesch
Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy.
Life and career
Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmag ...
.
Flesch offered to teach her without charge after hearing her in the Vienna International Violin Competition, at which, aged 12, she was placed fourth out of 250 entrants.
The ''Vienna Neues Tageblatt'' wrote, "If you close your eyes, you think you are listening to the vigorous playing of a man and not that of a little girl in a white frock."
Career
In 1935, aged 15, Neveu achieved worldwide celebrity status when she won the
Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition ( Polish: ''Międzynarodowy Konkurs Skrzypcowy im. Henryka Wieniawskiego'') is a competition for violinists up to age 30 that takes place every five years in Poznań, Poland, in honor of the v ...
.
Unable to afford the cost of travel to Warsaw, the family was helped by Flesch, who paid for the trip. In the preliminary round (of 180 competitors) Neveu was placed first, 26 points ahead of
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh (; – 24 October 1974), was a Soviet classical violinist, violist and conductor.
Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world and was the dedicatee of numerous violin ...
, and in the final again she came in first. She was 15, Oistrakh 27 at the time.
Henri Temianka
Henri Temianka (19 November 19067 November 1992) was a virtuoso violinist, conductor, author and music educator.
Early years
Henri Temianka was born in Greenock, Scotland, to parents who were Polish emigrants. He studied violin with Carel Blit ...
was placed third. Neveu was immediately signed to an extensive touring contract which over the next two years saw her give solo performances at the leading concert halls of Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada.
Neveu's international career was interrupted by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, during which she gave few concerts, nearly all in France. Many invitations to play in Germany were turned down. She was finally able to make her London debut in 1946.
She recorded
Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
's
Violin Concerto at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...
in the same year.
Her brother Jean-Paul usually accompanied her on piano, and the two toured postwar Europe extensively, appearing at the
Prague Spring International Music Festival
The Prague Spring International Music Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly cs, Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras an ...
as well as visiting Australia and South America. They also played return engagements at major venues in the United States. At one concert in the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
,
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to:
Queens regnant
* Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland
* Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms
* Queen ...
was so moved by the Beethoven Concerto that she invited Neveu up to the royal box for the second half. 'On the platform,' wrote the critic of the ''New York Telegram'', 'Ginette Neveu is an impressive figure – tall, dark, and with an imposing manner. Whenever there is a rest for the violin she stands like an acolyte robed in white, her eyes fixed on the conductor ... it is fascinating.'
Neveu made few commercial recordings, but all of them remain in the catalogue. She recorded the Brahms and Sibelius Concertos,
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 ...
's
Tzigane
''Tzigane'' is a rhapsodic composition by the French composer Maurice Ravel. It was commissioned by and dedicated to Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Arányi, great-niece of the influential violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim. The original instrumentati ...
,
Chausson's ''
Poème'', the
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...
Sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...
(with her brother) and a handful of shorter pieces. There are also two recordings of her Beethoven Concerto (with
Hans Rosbaud
Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century.
Biography
Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with thei ...
and
Willem van Otterloo conducting) and two other recordings of her Brahms (with
Antal Dorati Antal may refer to:
* Andal, 8th-century poet saint of South India
* Antal (given name)
Antal is a Hungarian given name that is a form of Antonius in use throughout Hungary and in parts of Romania. Notable people with this given name include t ...
and
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 190028 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. After studying at several music academies, he worked in German opera houses between 1923 and 1945, first as a répétiteur and then in increasingly senior conduc ...
) from non-commercial sources. Most highly praised, and most revelatory, was her Sibelius (with the Philharmonia Orchestra and
Walter Susskind
Jan Walter Susskind (1 May 1913 – 25 March 1980) was a Czech-born British conductor, teacher and pianist. He began his career in his native Prague, and fled to Britain when Germany invaded the city in 1939. He worked for substantial periods in ...
). Of it, the composer wrote, 'I particularly wish to speak of my feeling of profound gratitude when I think of the inspired and extremely sensitive performance of my Violin Concerto which Ginette Neveu rendered unforgettable.' She loved the Concerto, but, as she said, 'Ils ne le connaissent en France, et ils ne veulent pas le connaitre!' (They don't know it in France, and they don't want to know it!). Perhaps she was thinking of that difficult concerto when she wrote, 'As far as I am concerned, the truly technical problems which are the most disconcerting and the most fruitful are those posed by composers who have a strong personality and pursue the essence of their musical idea to its logical conclusion without wasting too much sympathy on the performer.'
Plane crash and death
![Père-Lachaise - Division 11 - Neveu 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/P%C3%A8re-Lachaise_-_Division_11_-_Neveu_01.jpg)
Neveu gave her last concert in Paris on 20 October 1949. On 28 October, she was on board an
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
flight from Paris to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
when it
crashed on a mountain after two failed attempts to make a landing at the
Santa Maria Airport in the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. All 48 people on board the flight died, including Ginette, her brother
Jean Neveu, and the French former boxing champion
Marcel Cerdan. From her violin, a Guadagnini, only the scroll has been found.
During the return of the bodies to France, Neveu's coffin was confused with that of another victim, Amélie Ringler, whose funeral took place before the error was discovered. On 28 November, Neveu's brother-in-law identified her remains in the coffin disinterred from the graveyard in
Bantzenheim
Bantzenheim () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department in Alsace in north-eastern France.
See also
* Communes of the Haut-Rhin department
References
Communes of Haut-Rhin
{{HautRhin-geo- ...
. Neveu now lies in
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...
in Paris, close to the grave of
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
.
Legacy
![Paris salle Pleyel plaque à Ginette Neveu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Paris_salle_Pleyel_plaque_%C3%A0_Ginette_Neveu.jpg)
After Neveu's death, tributes poured in. The Queen of Belgium visited the grieving family, who had lost a son and a daughter. The composer
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...
, whose
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 fo ...
Neveu had premiered (and parts of which she had contributed), wrote, 'I am haunted by the memory of Ginette Neveu. I had the greatest admiration for her and I loved her dearly.' For
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals, , 'Her playing was one of the greatest revelations, both instrumental and musical.'
Charles Munch, newly installed conductor of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 18 ...
, who had often worked with her, wrote 'Dear Ginette, the memory of you will never cease to haunt us, and each time that by the grace of God we are able to make music really well, we shall feel you very close to us.'
Jacques Thibaud
Jacques Thibaud (; 27 September 18801 September 1953) was a French violinist.
Biography
Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won th ...
, the great French violinist (who would himself die in a plane crash shortly afterward), wrote, 'Why was it that at the dawn of her days an unjust and relentless stroke of fate should come and cut off a life which was bringing to the world nothing but beauty and joy? But in spite of the sternness of destiny, in the hearts of her friends and of the whole world Ginette is unforgettable. The memory of her will never die.'
Neveu was posthumously awarded the Cross of the
Legion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
. A street is named in her memory in the
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
region of Paris.
References
Further reading
* M.-J. Ronze-Neveu, G. N.: LA FULGURANTE CARRIÈRE D'UNE GRANDE ARTISTE (Paris, 1952; Eng. tr., London, 1957).
External links
Legendary Violinistspublic channel 13 website bio page for Neveu.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neveu, Ginette
1919 births
1949 deaths
Musicians from Paris
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
20th-century French women classical violinists
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Portugal
Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition prize-winners
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1949