Louis Joseph Félix Frémaux (13 August 1921 – 20 March 2017) was a French conductor.

Life and career

Frémaux was born in

Aire-sur-la-Lys Aire-sur-la-Lys (, literally ''Aire on the Lys''; vls, Ariën-aan-de-Leie) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography The commune is located 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of Saint-Omer, at the junctio ...

, France and came from an artistic background; his father was a painter, and his wife was a music teacher.Harding, J. "Louis Frémaux a man for all music". ''Performance'', Summer, 1981. He studied music at the conservatoire in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, but his studies were interrupted by the Second World War, when he joined the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

; at the end of the war he was commissioned in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

and was posted to Vietnam in 1945-46. He entered the

Paris Conservatoire 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 1947, studied under

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

Jacques Chailley Jacques Chailley (24 March 1910 – 21 January 1999) was a French musicologist and composer. Alain Lompech, "Jacques Chailley, musicologue-praticien et infatigable chercheur", ''Consociatio internationalis musicæ sacræ, Musicæ sacræ ministeriu ...

, and graduated in 1952 with a first prize in conducting. Frémaux worked with the orchestra of the

Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des ba ...

, after having been released from the

(to which he had been recalled for service in Algeria) at the request of

Prince Rainier Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...

. For ten years he helped build the reputation of the Monte Carlo orchestra, as well as conducting opera premieres there. He was the first music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique Rhône-Alpes (later the

Orchestre National de Lyon The Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL) is a French orchestra based in Lyon. Its primary concert venue is l'Auditorium de Lyon. The orchestra operates with the help of a subsidy from the French Ministry of Culture and from the Rhône-Alpes regional ...

), from 1969 to 1971. In the UK, Frémaux was principal conductor of the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

(CBSO) from 1969 to 1978. During his CBSO tenure, he formed the CBSO Chorus, with the baritone Gordon Clinton as its chorus master. In 1978 he was awarded an honorary DMus from Birmingham University; he also became a member of the Royal Academy of Music. However, his CBSO tenure ended in controversy after the relationship between Frémaux and the orchestra players had broken down. Frémaux served as chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1982. He died in March 2017 at the age of 95.Journée Européenne de la Musique Ancienne - Carrefour de Lodéon - Acte II du mardi 21 mars 2017
/ref> He was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1969.

Discography

By the early 1980s Frémaux had recorded over fifty works, winning a special citation from the Koussevitsky Jury for the 'Nottuni ed Alba' and Second Symphony of John McCabe. Other recordings include Berlioz (

Grande Messe des Morts The ''Grande Messe des morts'' (or Requiem), Op. 5, by Hector Berlioz was composed in 1837. The ''Grande Messe des Morts'' is one of Berlioz's best-known works, with a tremendous orchestration of woodwind and brass instruments, including four ant ...

, Symphonie Fantastique), Bizet ( Symphony in C, Roma), Delalande (Psalms 12 and 144), Fauré (Requiem), Ibert (Bacchanale, Bostoniana, Louisville Concerto, Divertissement), Poulenc ( Gloria, Piano Concerto), Saint-Saëns (Symphony No 3, works for cello and orchestra) and Walton (Gloria, Te Deum,

Façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

The Wise Virgins ''The Wise Virgins'' is a one-act ballet based on the biblical Parable of the Ten Virgins.Vaughan D. ''Frederick Ashton and his Ballets.'' A & C Black Ltd, London, 1977. It was created in 1940 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to a score of m ...

). He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the Symphonie Fantastique (1988) and a Ravel programme of Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2, La Valse, complete ballet Ma Mère l'Oye and Boléro (1989). Louis Frémaux may be seen as conductor in two piano concertos with

Samson François Samson Pascal François (18 May 192422 October 1970) was a French pianist and composer. Biography François was born in Frankfurt where his father worked at the French consulate. His mother, Rose, named him Samson, for strength, and Pascal, fo ...

( Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand, Paris, 1964, and Grieg, Paris, 1967), on EMI Classics DVD 490437.

References

External links

*
Louis Frémaux Biography
at the Bach Cantatas Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Fremaux, Louis 1921 births 2017 deaths French conductors (music) French male conductors (music) French Resistance members Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Officers of the French Foreign Legion People from Aire-sur-la-Lys French expatriates in the United Kingdom