François Ruhlmann (11 January 1868 – 8 June 1948) was a Belgian conductor.

Life and career

Born in

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 ...

, 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, and at 7 played the oboe in the orchestra. Ruhlmann's first conducting engagement was at the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen in 1892. This was followed by further work in Liège and Antwerp, before a return to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in 1898. François Ruhlmann began his career at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 6 September 1905 (with '' Carmen''), then at the death of

Alexandre Luigini Alexandre Clément Léon Joseph Luigini (9 March 185029 July 1906) was a French composer and conductor, especially active in the opera house.Charton D. Alexandre Luigini. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, ...

became principal conductor in 1906 (retiring from the position in 1914). Although mobilised in 1914, he returned occasionally during the war to conduct. From 1911 he conducted at the theatre of the Casino of

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

. Later he championed works by Dukas, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel at the Concerts Populaires in Brussels. In 1920 Ruhlmann tried to mediate in a dispute involving the musicians unions in Paris, although he sympathised with the players. In 1919 he moved to the Palais Garnier, where he remained until 1938. He conducted many operatic premieres:Wolff S. ''Un demi-siecle d'Opéra-Comique.'' André Bonne, Paris, 1953. * ''Les Pêcheurs de Saint Jean'' (

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 ...

) 1905 * ''Les Armaillis'' ( Doret) 1906 * ''Le roi aveugle'' (February) 1906 * '' Ariane et Barbe-bleue'' ( Dukas) 1907 * ''Le Chemineau'' ( Leroux) 1907 * ''La Habanéra'' (Laparra) 1908 * ''

The Snow maiden ''The Snow Maiden'' (subtitle: A Spring Fairy Tale) ( rus, Снегурочка–весенняя сказка, Snegúrochka–vesénnyaya skázka, italic=yes ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed ...

'' (

Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...

) Paris premiere 1908 * ''Chiquito'' ( Nouguès) 1909 * ''On ne badine pas avec l'amour'' (Erlanger) 1910 * ''

Bérénice ''Berenice'' (french: Bérénice) is a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine. ''Berenice'' was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries. It was premiered on 21 November 1670 by the Comédiens du Roi ...

'' (Magnard) 1911 * ''L’Ancêtre'' ( Saint-Saëns) Paris premiere 1911 * '' L’heure espagnole'' (Ravel) 1911 * '' Thérèse'' (Massenet) Paris premiere 1911 * ''La sorcière'' (Erlanger) 1912 * ''La Lépreuse'' (Lazzari) 1912 * '' La vida breve'' (Falla) Paris premiere 1913 * '' Mârouf'' (Rabaud) 1914 * ''Lorenzaccio'' (Moret) 1920 * ''Esther, princesse d'Israël'' ( Mariotte) 1925 He was long associated with Pathé, for which he made many recordings, including six complete operas after 1910, including ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...

'' (Verdi) on 28 sides; ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'' (Gounod) on 56 sides; and ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'' (Verdi), 1912 on 38 sides. He also conducted the 1911 Pathé recording of '' Carmen'' (54 sides). François Ruhlmann died in Paris at age 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruhlmann, Francois 1868 births 1948 deaths Musicians from Brussels Belgian conductors (music) Belgian male musicians Male conductors (music) Music directors (opera)