Serge Blanc (31 December 1929 – 29 June 2013) was a French classical violinist. A

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

trained 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 ...

, he performed from the age of 11 in Paris with the

Orchestre Colonne The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead a ...

and the

Pasdeloup Orchestra The Pasdeloup Orchestra (also referred to as Orchestre des Concerts Pasdeloup) is the oldest symphony orchestra in France. History Founded in 1861 by Jules Pasdeloup with the name Concerts Populaires, it is the oldest orchestra still in existe ...

. He studied further at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

and played at the

Tanglewood Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...

. Back in France, he founded several chamber music ensembles and became principal of the second violins at the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris. For several years, he conducted the

Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra, affiliated with Radio France. The orchestra performs principally at the auditorium of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, along with several concerts at the Philharmonie de Pa ...

, but then returned to the opera orchestra. He taught at the

, and edited Bach's

Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin The sonatas and partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001–1006) are a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are sometimes referred to in English as the sonatas and for solo violin in accordance with Bach's headings in the autograph ...

Early life

Born in Paris on 31 December 1929, Blanc began studying violin at the age of six. He passed the entrance exam to the

at age ten and studied 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 ...

. He was awarded the First prize for violin three years later, later also the Prix d'Honneur for

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 ...

. Being of

Romanian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

descent, Blanc had to be hidden during the years of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation shortly after he passed the entrance exam, by his teacher Jules Boucherit, who was named

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

for having protected Jews during the

WWII 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Boucherit and

Claude Delvincourt Claude Étienne Edmond Marie Pierre Delvincourt (12 January 1888 – 5 April 1954) was a French pianist and composer of classical music. Biography Delvincourt was born in Paris, the son of Pierre Delvincourt and Marguerite Fourès. He studied ...

, then the conservatories director and a resistance fighter, still organized public recitals for boy. In 1941, at age eleven, he played as a soloist with the Orchestra of the Colonne Concerts conducted by

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 ...

. At age thirteen, he played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 2 and Saint-Saëns's ''Havanaise'' with the Pasdeloup Orchestra. He played another recital 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 ...

at age 15, which was praised by the press, and musicians such as

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot (; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his poeti ...

with whom he played violin sonatas by

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born in Caracas b ...

and

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

in concert.

Adult career

In both 1946 and 1947, Blanc was sent on official tours by the Ministry of Fine Arts, to represent France in Europe. In 1949, he won the

Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition The Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition is an international classical music competition for pianists, violinists and singers that has been held in France since 1943. (A Jacques Thibaud Competition was held the year before in Bordeaux: Jacques ...

. He met

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. Biog ...

who influenced him for a long time, and with whom he played in concert at the Salle Gaveau. He also collaborated with

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 ...

until she died in 1979. In 1952, Blanc left for the United States. He played at the

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, ch ...

organized by 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 1881, ...

, conducted by Charles Munch. A year later, he played there with

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, whose ''

Serenade after Plato's "Symposium" The ''Serenade, after Plato's Symposium'', is a composition by Leonard Bernstein for solo violin, strings and percussion. He completed the serenade in five movements on August 7, 1954. For the serenade, the composer drew inspiration from Plato's ...

'' he would record as the first in France. Blanc received several scholarships to the

where he also studied conducting with

Ivan Galamian Ivan Alexander Galamian ( hy, Իվան Ղալամեան; April 14, 1981) was an Armenian-American violin teacher of the twentieth century who was the violin teacher of many seminal violin players including Itzhak Perlman. Biography Galamian w ...

, and graduated. He won the

Jascha Heifetz Competition International Jascha Heifetz Competition is a competition for violinists of all nationalities, which is held in Lithuania. The first International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists was held in 2001, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ...

at the

Berkshire Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

. He returned to France where he founded the Serge Blanc Quartet. In 1958, he won the Enescu Competition in Bucharest, along with Pierre Vozlinsky. He founded the Pro Arte Quartet, then the Da Camera Trio, with whom he toured in France and worldwide, with pianist Odette Gartenlaub, violist Christos Michalakakos and pianist

Antonio Ruiz-Pipó Antonio Ruiz-Pipó (27 April 1934 – 24 October 1997) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist and composer. Ruiz-Pipó was born in Granada, Spain. He studied the piano with Alicia de Larrocha and composition with Salvador Bacarisse and others. The l ...

, among others. Ruiz-Pipó composed a Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in 1987, dedicated to Blanc. In 1962, Blanc joined the

Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris The Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris is a French Symphonic Orchestra dating from 1672. Since the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989, the orchestra has also been called the ''Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille''. History In 1672, the Paris ...

as principal of the second violon section. In 1973, he was appointed musical director of the

. There he invited conductors such as Bernstein,

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as ...

and

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

. He left

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety of ...

two years later, and took his place again in the orchestra where he stayed until his retirement. Blanc died in Paris on 29 June 2013.

Pedagogy

Blanc was professor at the

École normale de musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Engl ...

where he created the chamber music class. Then he was violin and chamber music teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris, and gave private lessons where he taught mainly chamber music. Based on the teaching by Enescu, Blanc collected and annotated Bach's

, which Enescu called "the Himalayas of the violinists". Having studied them for half a century, he published a pedagogical edition with recommendations for phrasing,

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

, fingering, and expression.

References

External links

Official website
*
Youtube channel dedicated to Serge Blanc
* IMSLP.org : Sonates et Partitas, Edition Pédagogique {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc, Serge 1929 births 2013 deaths 20th-century French male classical violinists Musicians from Paris Conservatoire de Paris alumni Conservatoire de Paris faculty Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners French people of Romanian-Jewish descent