Maurice Kufferath (8 January 1852 – 8 December 1919) was a Belgian music critic,

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

, cellist and conductor. A director of the

Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

from

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

, he was considered an icon of the music scene in Belgium.

Biography

Kufferath was born in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the C ...

and raised in a musical environment that saw him form a quartet with his brothers and his father, also a pianist. After studies in Brussels, he studied law at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

where he met Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. He was the creator of the Belgian section of the "Wagner-Verein". Kufferath became director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie and on 6 March 1900 hired Sylvain Dupuis as first conductor. A perfectionist, Maurice Kufferath instilled a radiance into the musical and lyrical creation of the theatre and won recognition in the world of opera. He wrote the libretto in French and set the opera '' The Mikado or The Town of Titipu'' by Arthur Sullivan, at the Alhambra of Bruxelles on 23 December

1889 Events January–March * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in t ...

. An editor of "L'Indépendance Belge", he collaborated with the "Guide musical". His articles on

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

are considered authoritative. From

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl ...

till

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. ** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...

, Maurice Kufferath was editor of the Belgian and French classical music periodical " Le guide musical". On 16 January 1886 he married Lucie Fouassier in Paris.Archives de l'état civil de Paris, registre V4E6206, acte no. 43. Their son Camille Kufferath composed operas and ballets from the 1910s to the 1950s. Maurice Kufferath died in

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city an ...

Bibliography

* ''

Henri Vieuxtemps Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps ( 17 February 18206 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th ce ...

: sa vie et son œuvre'' (Bruxelles: Rozez, 1882). * ''L'Art de diriger l'orchestre: Richard Wagner & Hans Richter'' (Paris: Fischbacher, 1890). * ''Le Théâtre de Richard Wagner: de

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...

. Essais de critique littéraire, esthétique et musicale'' (Paris/Bruxelles/Leipzig: Fischbacher/Schott/Junne, several volumes, 1891–1899). * ''Les Abus de la société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique'' (Bruxelles: Office Central, 1897). * ''Musiciens et philosophes:

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

, Richard Wagner'' (Paris: Alcan, 1899). * '' Salomé: play by Oscar Wilde, music by Richard Strauss'' (Bruxelles: Schott, 1907). * ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, wi ...

Ludwig van 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 classic ...

'' (Paris: Fischbacher, 1913). * ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...

by Mozart'' (Paris: Fischbacher, 1914-9).

References

External links

Maurice Kufferath
on data.bnf.fr
Article about Maurice Corneil de Thoran
1852 births 1919 deaths Belgian cellists Belgian conductors (music) Belgian male musicians Male conductors (music) Belgian musicologists Classical music critics Directors of La Monnaie Opera librettists Opera managers People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Belgian theatre managers and producers {{Belgium-bio-stub