Edouard Deldevez

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Edouard(-Marie-Ernest) Deldevez (b. May 31, 1817; d. November 6, 1897) was a French violinist, conductor, composer, and music teacher. The names Edmé or Emile are often substituted for Edouard. He is also sometimes called Ernest or Ernst Deldevez.

Deldevez was born and died in Paris, France. He won many prizes as a violinist. He became part of a group of musicians centred on Jean Francois Sudre (1787 - 1864). They were attempting to develop a way of transmitting language through music. Sudre trained Deldevez and Charles Lasonneur to play and interpret his alphabet. A given note would represent a word or a letter of the alphabet. The trio troured France, answering questions from the audience using Sudre's violin. A military application quickly presented itself. A bugler on a battlefield could transmit orders to a regiment by playing an appropriate tune. This promising hypothesis came to nothing because the system was too vulnerable to wind and weather.

Clearly grasping at straws, Sudre then offered the military a set of musical cannons, but they declined the suggestion. In 1829 Sudre began to develop the system that is now known as the Do Re Mi method of notating music. In 1867 Deldevez published "Notation de la musique classique" . He wrote many other books and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 1874.

Today Deldevez is best known for writing the ballet Paquita (1846). In 1881 Marius Petipa included additional numbers in his revival of the ballet, this time written by Léon Minkus (1826-1917).

Preceded by: François George-Hainl

Principal conductors, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire 1872–1885

Succeeded by: Jules Garcin