André Cluytens

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André Cluytens, 1965

André Cluytens (French pronunciation:

La Scala.[2]

Life and career

Belgium

Cluytens was born in

Ma mère l'oye, Manon, La poupée de Nuremberg, Resurrection, Lucia di Lammermoor, Werther, Jeux, Le domino noir, Le voyage en Chine, Les Huguenots, Schwanda the Bagpiper, Salome and Angélique.[1]

France

In 1932, he became the principal conductor at the

operettas.[1] In 1935 he moved to the Opéra National de Lyon as principal conductor, adding more Wagner to his repertoire (Das Rheingold and Siegfried
) and became the musical director there in 1942.

Cluytens volunteered to serve in the French army in September 1939 and following a medical examination was engaged as a French combatant, although he never saw action; he became a French citizen on 14 May 1940.[1] Following the liberation of France, complaints from Bordeaux concerning his alleged collaboration with Nazi authorities in that city led to him being sentenced as part of the épuration; after appeal, on 24 May 1946 his sentence was revoked.[1]

In 1947, he was appointed musical director at the

La boheme, Werther and La traviata), and the French premiere of The Rake's Progress in June 1953. His revival of Manon was highly praised – and representative of what Paris critics saw as a successful tenure at the Opéra-Comique; he also oversaw many all-Ravel evenings. Cluytens resigned from the Opéra-Comique in December 1953 and conducted his last performance there (Manon) on 30 September 1954. He became a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1953.[1]

Having made his debut with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra on 20 December 1942, he succeeded Charles Munch in 1949 as principal conductor, which post he held until 1960. His contract required him to conduct half of the orchestra's concerts each season; he also led them on foreign tours. Cluytens was due to conduct the first concert to be given by Alfred Cortot in Paris after his disgrace for Vichy activities, in 1947; in the event the concerto was dropped and Cluytens refused to acknowledge Cortot as he and the orchestra left the stage for Cortot to play solo.[5] Cluytens conducted the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra in a Beethoven symphony cycle and then on its tour of Japan in 1964,[6] continuing on his own to conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, South Australian Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Symphony Orchestra into July that year.

International career

He led a famous performance of Wagner's opera Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival on 23 July 1955, being the first conductor of French nationality to conduct at Bayreuth (and only the third non-German to conduct there, after Toscanini and de Sabata). His other work at Bayreuth up to 1965 consisted of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1956, 1957, 1958), Parsifal (1957, 1965) and Lohengrin (1958), returning for Tannhäuser in 1965. According to Wolfgang Wagner, Cluytens was "universally liked for his amiable, open-minded attitude"; Hans Knappertsbusch was delighted when Cluytens requested that the older conductor introduce him to Parsifal.[7]

He was to introduce

Ring cycle in Lyon in 1959, Cluytens conducted three cycles at La Scala, Milan in 1963 (with Birgit Nilsson and Hans Hotter
).

Cluytens made his debut with the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1948, and later toured the UK, the US and Canada[9] with the orchestra in 1956. He also worked with the Berlin Philharmonic as a guest conductor, making the very first recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies with that orchestra. Cluytens was well-versed in the German repertoire, and was also noted for authoritative interpretations of Ravel
and other modern French composers.

From 1964 he had a close relationship with Anja Silja, whom he had met in Bayreuth[10] and first conducted in Salome at the Paris Opera. His death at the age of 62 occurred coincident with his reputation emerging not just primarily as a conductor of the French classics, but as an interpreter of the standard German/Austrian repertoire.

Cluytens died in 1967 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. The German soprano Anja Silja bought his former home in Paris and has resided there ever since.[11]

Recordings

Main article: André Cluytens discography

A prolific recording artist, Cluytens signed a contract with the French branch of EMI

Le Barbier de Séville
.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Baeck E. André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre. Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009.
  2. ^ André Cluytens. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music. Macmillan, London and New York, 2001.
  3. ^ a b Sanders A. Liner notes to Andre Cluytens – A French Collection CDs. London, Testament, 2002.
  4. ^ Wolff, Stéphane. Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900–1950). André Bonne, Paris, 1953.
  5. ISBN 0300132905
    .
  6. ^ Holoman DK. Société des concerts du Conservatoire website Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 13 March 2011.
  7. ^ Wagner, Wolfgang. Acts (autobiography). Orion, London, 1994.
  8. ^ Tommasini, Anthony Régine Crespin, French Soprano, Dies at 80 . New York Times, July 6, 2007.
  9. ^ Obituary – André Cluytens. Gramophone, August 1967.
  10. ^ André Cluytens par Anja Silja, interview with Cécile Remy, Abeille Musique, 22 March 2002. Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 16 February 2011.
  11. ^ Michael White (2001-09-27). "A femme fatale faces the music". Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
  12. ^ Cowan R. Replay – Rob Cowan rediscovers the art of conductor Andre Cluytens. Gramophone, May 2002, 104–5.
  13. ^ EMI IMG Classic Archive DVA4 90124-9, 2003.
  • Holomon, D. Kern. The Société des Concerts Du Conservatoire, 1828–1967. page 476-7.

External links

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Cultural offices
Preceded by
Charles Münch
 Principal Conductor, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
1946–1960 		Succeeded by
none
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