Pierre Monteux
A major figure during the golden age of American orchestral music, conductor Pierre Monteux had an exceptionally long career that began in the 19th century, encompassed the premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, which he conducted, and extended into the 1960s. He fundamentally shaped several American orchestras in the French style.
Monteux was born in Paris on April 4, 1875. His family was of Jewish background but was not religious. Monteux's father was a shoe salesman and had little interest in music, but his mother was a conservatory graduate who gave piano lessons. Monteux started violin lessons at six, and at nine, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris, where his classmates included George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler. He also made friends with pianist Alfred Cortot, and at 12, he organized an orchestra of his fellow students to back Cortot's concerts in the Paris area. Monteux became a member of the Quatuor Geloso as a violist and played in various Paris orchestras, including that of the Folies Bergère. His conducting debut came in 1895 as a substitute for Camille Saint-Saëns in a performance of the oratorio La lyre et la harpe; Saint-Saëns was dissatisfied with the organist and demanded to play the organ part himself as a nervous Monteux was drafted to step in. Monteux made his recording debut in 1903 in a group backing tenor Albert Vaguet in an excerpt from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.
Monteux remained a successful violinist and violist, but in the first decades of the 20th century, more and more conducting opportunities came his way. He often collaborated with ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev, and it was through that connection that Monteux came to conduct one of the most famous events in classical music in the 20th century: the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") in 1913. Ironically, Monteux personally disliked the work, which caused an audience uproar at the premiere but went on to become acclaimed as a masterpiece. Monteux fought in the French army in World War I. After the war, he began working in the U.S., where he would spend much of the latter part of his career. He conducted several French operas at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 1919, he became chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There he faced difficulties, for the orchestra's previous conductor, Karl Muck, had been forced out due to anti-German sentiment, and many players had left with him. Monteux remained in his chief conductor's post until 1924, patiently rebuilding the group by auditioning musicians of various backgrounds. The orchestra today still retains traces of Monteux's essentially French style, and he maintained close ties with the group, returning frequently to conduct and make several recordings.
Returning to Europe for a time, Monteux conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam from 1924 to 1934, also picking up the baton next at the new Orchestre Symphonique de Paris in 1929. He shaped that orchestra as well, remaining its conductor until 1938. In 1936, he also became music director of the San Francisco Symphony, remaining there until 1952 and devoting full time to it as storm clouds gathered in Europe. A school for conductors Monteux had established in France was moved to Hancock, Maine, where he lived part-time. Monteux remained active into his ninth decade, leading many European orchestras as a guest conductor and assuming the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961. Monteux conducted his last concert in April of 1964, leading the RAI Radio and Television Symphony in Milan, Italy. After a series of strokes, he died at his home in Maine on July 1, 1964. Many of Monteux's 78 rpm recordings, especially those he made with the Boston Symphony for the RCA Victor label, were reissued first on LP, then on CD, and then on streaming media; as of 2023, more than 175 albums featuring Monteux were in print.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini / Les Troyens / Symphonie Fantastique (Monteux) (1930)
Les Concerts de Paris Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux
Classical - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 1 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Concerto pour violon, Op. 77 (Mono Version)
London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, Henryk Szeryng
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: La traviata (Recorded 1956)
Opera - Released by Andromeda on 12 Jul 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Monteux in Boston - Previously Unissed Performances, 1953-1957
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Leon Fleisher, Pierre Monteux
Classical - Released by West Hill Radio Archives on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Images pour orchestre, L. 122
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 15 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky · Symphonies 4 & 5
Pierre Monteux, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on 4 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz, Tchaikovsky & Brahms: Orchestral Works (Remastered 2022) [Live]
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, Erling Blondal-Bengtsson
Classical - Released by Archipel on 2 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Monteux: The Early Recordings 1941
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 12 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Casadesus plays Mozart (1958-1969)
Robert Casadesus, French National Radio Orchestra, Lovro von Matacic, Jean Martinon, Pierre Monteux, David Zinman
Classical - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 8 May 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck · orfeo ed euridice
Risë Stevens, Lisa Della Casa, Roberta Peters, Pierre Monteux, Rome Opera Orchestra
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on 28 Oct 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteux Conducts Elgar and Brahms
Classical - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 29 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 (Live)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Guido Cantelli, Pierre Monteux
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on 20 Sep 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (Mono Version)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Pierre Monteux
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonie No. 3 "Héroïque", avec répétitions d'orchestre (Mono Version)
Pierre Monteux, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (Mono Version)
Risë Stevens, Lisa Della Casa, Pierre Monteux, Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Monteux Plays Brahms, Bach and Beethoven
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 12 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Monteux: The Early Recordings 1947 - 1951
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 12 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Monteux: The Early Recordings 1945, Pt. I
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 25 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Artur Schnabel in Performance (1943, 1947)
Artur Schnabel, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Joseph Szigeti, Pierre Monteux, Pierre Fournier
Classical - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 7 Oct 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: In Melody Music
Suzanne Danco, Walter Gieseking, Arthur Rubinstein, Pierre Monteux
Chamber Music - Released by Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd. on 18 Jun 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms, Stravinsky & Berlioz: Orchestral Works (Live)
Concertgebouworkest, Pierre Monteux
Classical - Released by Archipel on 10 Jun 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo