Charles Münch

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Charles Munch (1891-1968)
Charles Munch (1891-1968)

Charles Münch (September 26, 1891 – November 6, 1968) was a French conductor and violinist who made numerous notable recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as its music director.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Münch was the fifth in a family of six children of Strasbourg in Alsace (occupied by Germany, 1871-1918.) Although his first ambition was to be a locomotive engineer, he studied violin at the Strasbourg Conservatoire. His father Ernest was a professor of organ at the Conservatoire and performed at the cathedral. Ernest also taught Charles, and directed an orchestra with his son in the second violins. After receiving his diploma in 1912, Charles studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and Lucien Capet at the Conservatoire de Paris. He was conscripted into the German army in World War I, serving as a sergeant gunner. He was gassed at Péronne and wounded at Verdun.

In 1920 he became professor of the violin at the Strasbourg Conservatoire (Strasbourg now in France again) and assistant concertmaster at the Strasbourg Orchestra under Joseph Guy Ropartz, who directed the conservatory. In the early 1920's he was concertmaster for Hermann Abendroth's Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne. He became concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter from 1926 to 1933.

Münch made his conducting debut in Paris on November 1, 1932 at the age of 41. Münch's fiancée, Geneviève Maury, granddaughter of a founder of the Nestlé Chocolate Company, had rented the hall and hired the Straram Orchestra. Following this success, he conducted the Concerts Siohan, the Lamoureux Orchestra, the new Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, the Biarritz Orchestra (Summer 1933), the Société Philharmonique de Paris (1935 to 1938), and the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire (1937 to 1946). He became known as a Berlioz champion, and became friends with Arthur Honegger, Albert Roussel, and Francis Poulenc . During these years, Münch gave first performances of works by Honegger, Jean Roger-Ducasse, Joseph Guy Ropartz, Roussel, and Florent Schmitt. He became director of the Société Philharmonique de Paris in 1938 and taught conducting at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1937 to 1945.

He remained in France conducting the Conservatoire Orchestra during the occupation, believing it best to maintain the morale of the French people. He refused conducting engagements in Germany and also refused to perform contemporary German works. He protected members of his orchestra from the Gestapo and contributed from his income to the French Resistance. For this, he received the Légion d'honneur with the red ribbon in 1945 and the degree of Commandeur in 1952.


[edit] In Boston

Münch made his début with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on December 27, 1946, and became their principal conductor from 1949 to 1962. He became the first conductor to take them on tour overseas. He excelled in the modern French repertoire, especially Debussy and Ravel, and was considered to be an authoritative performer of Berlioz. He led relaxed rehearsals which orchestra members appreciated after the authoritarian Serge Koussevitzky. His thirteen year tenure in Boston included 39 world premieres, 17 American first performances, and offered audiences 168 contemporary works.

[edit] The Orchestre de Paris

Münch returned to France and in 1963 became president of the École Normale de Musique. He was also named president of the Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes. In 1967, at the request of France’s Minister of Culture, André Malraux, he founded the first full-time salaried French orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and conducted its first concert on November 14, 1967. He died of a heart attack suffered at his hotel in Richmond, Virginia the following year while on an American tour with his new orchestra. EMI recorded his final sessions (including Ravel's Piano Concerto in G), with this orchestra, and released them posthumously.

[edit] Recordings

His discography (yet to be compiled) is extensive both in Boston (on RCA Victor) and at his European posts and guest conducting (on various labels, including English Decca, EMI, Nonesuch, Erato and Audivis-Valois.) He began making records in Paris before the war, for EMI. He then made a renowned series of Decca Full Frequency Range Recordings in the late 1940s and began making RCA disks soon after his arrival at Boston, including memorable Honegger and Roussel tapings. His first stereophonic recording with the Boston Symphony, in Boston's Symphony Hall in February 1954, was devoted to a complete version of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz and was made simultaneously in monaural and experimental stereophonic sound, although only the monaural version was issued for the full score. The stereo tape survives only fragmentarily. On his return to Paris he made Erato disks with the Orchestre Lamoureux, and with the Orchestre de Paris he again recorded for EMI.

[edit] Selected discography

(All recordings made with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for RCA Records)

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Philippe Gaubert		 Principal Conductor, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
1938–1946		 Succeeded by
André Cluytens
Preceded by
Serge Koussevitzky		 Music Director, Boston Symphony Orchestra
1949–1962		 Succeeded by
Erich Leinsdorf
Preceded by
Maurice Le Roux		 Principal Conductor, Orchestre National de France
1962–1968		 Succeeded by
Jean Martinon
Preceded by
none		 Music Director, Orchestre de Paris
1967–1968		 Succeeded by
Herbert von Karajan
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