Henri-Joseph Dupont (3 January 1838 – 21 December 1899) was a Belgian

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 regular ...

ist,

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

, theatre director (manager) and conductor. The pianist Auguste Dupont was his brother.

Life

Dupont was born in

Ensival Ensival ( wa, Enzivå) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Verviers, located in the province of Liège, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Nort ...

Verviers Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the ...

. He studied the violin at the

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

and

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 ...

conservatoires and won a Belgian Prix de Rome for

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

in 1863. After a four-year study trip around Europe, he was made leader of the Warsaw Opera House in 1867 and of the Imperial Theatre of Moscow in 1871. He returned to Brussels in 1872 and settled there as professor of harmony at the Conservatoire and leader of the orchestra at 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 ...

. He also co-directed La Monnaie from 1886 to 1889 with

Alexandre Lapissida Alexandre Lapissida (9 March 1839, Volkrange - 16 February 1907, Paris) was a French operatic tenor, producer, director and theatre manager. Life First singing at Strasbourg, he was taken on by Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1868, whe ...

, conducting performances starting from 1872/73 season, as well as often conducting the orchestra at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

. A few months before his death in

, he was made a member of the

Académie royale de Belgique The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

References

Joseph Dupont in La Monnaie digital archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupont, Joseph 1838 births 1899 deaths People from Verviers Belgian classical violinists Directors of La Monnaie Prix de Rome (Belgium) winners 19th-century classical violinists Male classical violinists Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium 19th-century Belgian male musicians