Albert Wolff
Encyclopedia
Albert Wolff was a French conductor
and composer of Dutch
descent. Most of his career was spent in European venues, with the exception of two years that he spent as a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera
and a few years in Buenos Aires
during the Second World War. He is most known for holding the position of principal conductor with the Opéra-Comique
in Paris for several years. He was married to the French mezzo-soprano Simone Ballard.
parents, though he was a French citizen from birth, never lived in the Netherlands, and never had a Dutch passport. When only 12 years old, he began his musical education at the Paris Conservatoire. There, he studied with such teachers as André Gedalge
, Xavier Leroux
, and Paul Antonin Vidal. At the same time he played the piano in cabaret
s and was organist
at St Thomas-d'Aquin, Paris for four years. Upon graduation at the age of 22, Wolff was awarded first prizes in harmony and accompaniment.
, the theatre which became the centre of his career, while leading ensembles elsewhere in the city of Paris. He made his conducting debut at an opera gala in Strasbourg
(then under German control) on 9 May 1909, following this by getting as much experience as possible with many short engagements in all operatic genres around France. Meanwhile, in 1908, Wolff was appointed chorus master at the Opéra-Comique
. This was his first experience with any form of stage work. He remained in that position for three years before being given an opportunity to conduct the premiere of Laparra's La jota. Impressed with his performance, the Opéra-Comique took him with them to Argentina in 1911 where he conducted the Buenos Aires
premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande
at the Teatro Colón. He later conducted the opera again in its premieres in Naples, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. In August 1910 Wolff conducted Fauré’s incidental music
in Georgette Leblanc
’s production of the play Pelléas and Mélisande
in the cloisters and gardens of Saint-Wandrille abbey
.
He continued as a conductor at the Opéra-Comique until the outbreak of World War I. Throughout that conflict, Wolff served his country first as at Les Éparges
, then as a pilot (including a tour of Morocco), and was decorated for his courage.
At the end of the War, Wolff went to the United States to join the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera
, replacing Pierre Monteux
in the French repertoire. His made his debut on 21 November 1919, in Gounod's Faust
. Although Wolff's work with the company received consistently positive reviews from critics, he spent less than two full seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. While with the company Wolff was able to conduct several performances of his own opera L'oiseau bleu
, the premiere being in the presence of Maurice Maeterlinck
, whose play of the same name the opera was based on.
as chief conductor, a position he held for the next three years. He notably conducted the first Paris performances of L'enfant et les sortileges
and Angélique by Ibert, and the world premiere of Le brebis égarée (1923) by Milhaud. Around this same time, he founded the Concerts Modernes Paris to provide a medium for the public performance of new works. In 1924 he resigned his post at the Opéra-Comique and became musical director of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
.
In 1925 he became second conductor of the Concerts Pasdeloup
, greatly extending his work in purely orchestral music (including an appearance at the Royal Albert Hall
, London in 1926); he later served as head conductor and director of the Pasdeloup from 1934–1940. From 1928 to 1934 he became principal conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux. He notably conducted the premiere of Roussel
's 4th symphony (which was dedicated to him) with the Orchestre Lamoureux in October 1935; he had previously made the premiere recording of Roussel's 3rd symphony with the Lamoureux. In 1938 he was twice a guest conductor at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
; in 1947 he conducted the same orchestra with Geirr Tveitt
in a recording of the latter's 3rd piano concerto.
Wolff conducted the premieres of the opéra-comiques L'École des maris (1935) and Madame Bovary (1951) by Emmanuel Bondeville
.
In 1945 he became director of the Opéra-Comique for a short while. While there he conducted the first performance of Les mamelles de Tirésias
(1947) and although he resigned from the position not long after he took it, Wolff continued to conduct occasionally at the theatre up until his death in 1970. He conducted 124 performances of Pelléas et Mélisande at the house, more than any other conductor. He also became associated with the Paris Opera where he became a conductor beginning in 1949. In 1960 he conducted the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major in Stockholm with the eminent Swedish pianist Lars Sellergren.
in Paris in the 1930s , along with some Russian pieces, and abridged versions of Faust and La Bohème (in French).
In the 1950s he set down opera and orchestral music for Decca
in stereo, including a complete Carmen
, L'école des maris by Bondeville and the complete music (in the context of the play) for L'Arlésienne. With the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra his discography included Adam: Giselle (complete) and Glazunov The Seasons, overtures by Berlioz, Auber, Hérold, Suppé, Nicolai and Reznicek, orchestral works by Falla, Ravel, Lalo and Franck, Charpentier Impressions d'Italie and Massenet's Scènes Pittoresques and Scènes Alsaciennes. With the Pasdeloup Orchestra he recorded Landowski's Symphony No 1 'Jean de la Peur'.
Biography (in French): Jean-Philippe Mousnier: "Albert Wolff - Eugène Bigot" Edition L'Harmattan 2001.
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and composer of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
descent. Most of his career was spent in European venues, with the exception of two years that he spent as a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and a few years in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
during the Second World War. He is most known for holding the position of principal conductor with the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in Paris for several years. He was married to the French mezzo-soprano Simone Ballard.
Early life and education
Wolff was born in Paris, of DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
parents, though he was a French citizen from birth, never lived in the Netherlands, and never had a Dutch passport. When only 12 years old, he began his musical education at the Paris Conservatoire. There, he studied with such teachers as André Gedalge
André Gedalge
André Gedalge , was an influential French composer and teacher.- Biography :André Gedalge was born at 75 rue des Saints-Pères, in Paris, where he first worked as a bookseller and editor specializing in livres de prix for public schools...
, Xavier Leroux
Xavier Leroux
Xavier Henry Napoleón Leroux was a French composer.Leroux was the son of a military bandleader. He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Jules Massenet and Théodore Dubois, and won the Prix de Rome in 1885 with the cantata Endymion...
, and Paul Antonin Vidal. At the same time he played the piano in cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
s and was organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
at St Thomas-d'Aquin, Paris for four years. Upon graduation at the age of 22, Wolff was awarded first prizes in harmony and accompaniment.
Early career
In 1906 Wolff joined the staff of the Opéra-ComiqueOpéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
, the theatre which became the centre of his career, while leading ensembles elsewhere in the city of Paris. He made his conducting debut at an opera gala in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
(then under German control) on 9 May 1909, following this by getting as much experience as possible with many short engagements in all operatic genres around France. Meanwhile, in 1908, Wolff was appointed chorus master at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
. This was his first experience with any form of stage work. He remained in that position for three years before being given an opportunity to conduct the premiere of Laparra's La jota. Impressed with his performance, the Opéra-Comique took him with them to Argentina in 1911 where he conducted the Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
at the Teatro Colón. He later conducted the opera again in its premieres in Naples, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. In August 1910 Wolff conducted Fauré’s incidental music
Pelléas et Mélisande (Fauré)
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 is a suite derived from incidental music by Gabriel Fauré for Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name. He was the first of four leading composers to write music inspired by Maeterlinck's drama...
in Georgette Leblanc
Georgette Leblanc
Georgette Leblanc was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and was an admired interpreter of the title role in Bizet's Carmen...
’s production of the play Pelléas and Mélisande
Pelléas and Mélisande
Pelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It was first performed in 1893....
in the cloisters and gardens of Saint-Wandrille abbey
Fontenelle Abbey
Fontenelle Abbey or the Abbey of St. Wandrille is a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Saint-Wandrille-Rançon near Caudebec-en-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France.-First foundation:...
.
He continued as a conductor at the Opéra-Comique until the outbreak of World War I. Throughout that conflict, Wolff served his country first as at Les Éparges
Les Éparges
Les Éparges is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meuse department*Parc naturel régional de Lorraine...
, then as a pilot (including a tour of Morocco), and was decorated for his courage.
At the end of the War, Wolff went to the United States to join the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, replacing Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
in the French repertoire. His made his debut on 21 November 1919, in Gounod's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
. Although Wolff's work with the company received consistently positive reviews from critics, he spent less than two full seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. While with the company Wolff was able to conduct several performances of his own opera L'oiseau bleu
L'oiseau bleu
L'oiseau bleu is an opera in four acts by the French composer and conductor Albert Wolff. The libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck is based on his 1908 play of the same name.-Performance history:...
, the premiere being in the presence of Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
, whose play of the same name the opera was based on.
Later career
Wolff returned to the Opéra-Comique in 1921, succeeding André MessagerAndré Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
as chief conductor, a position he held for the next three years. He notably conducted the first Paris performances of L'enfant et les sortileges
L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being L'heure espagnole...
and Angélique by Ibert, and the world premiere of Le brebis égarée (1923) by Milhaud. Around this same time, he founded the Concerts Modernes Paris to provide a medium for the public performance of new works. In 1924 he resigned his post at the Opéra-Comique and became musical director of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
.
In 1925 he became second conductor of the Concerts Pasdeloup
Pasdeloup Orchestra
The Pasdeloup Orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in France.-History:Founded in 1861 by Jules Pasdeloup with the name Concerts Populaires, it is the oldest orchestra still in existence in Paris...
, greatly extending his work in purely orchestral music (including an appearance at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, London in 1926); he later served as head conductor and director of the Pasdeloup from 1934–1940. From 1928 to 1934 he became principal conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux. He notably conducted the premiere of Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
's 4th symphony (which was dedicated to him) with the Orchestre Lamoureux in October 1935; he had previously made the premiere recording of Roussel's 3rd symphony with the Lamoureux. In 1938 he was twice a guest conductor at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...
; in 1947 he conducted the same orchestra with Geirr Tveitt
Geirr Tveitt
Geirr Tveitt, born Nils Tveit was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s.-Early years:...
in a recording of the latter's 3rd piano concerto.
Wolff conducted the premieres of the opéra-comiques L'École des maris (1935) and Madame Bovary (1951) by Emmanuel Bondeville
Emmanuel Bondeville
Emmanuel Bondeville was a French composer and music administrator, born 29 October 1898 in Rouen, and died 26 November 1987 in Paris.- Biography :...
.
In 1945 he became director of the Opéra-Comique for a short while. While there he conducted the first performance of Les mamelles de Tirésias
Les mamelles de Tirésias
Les mamelles de Tirésias is a surrealist two-act opéra bouffe by Francis Poulenc, based on the play of the same title by Guillaume Apollinaire, which was written in 1903 but first performed in 1917...
(1947) and although he resigned from the position not long after he took it, Wolff continued to conduct occasionally at the theatre up until his death in 1970. He conducted 124 performances of Pelléas et Mélisande at the house, more than any other conductor. He also became associated with the Paris Opera where he became a conductor beginning in 1949. In 1960 he conducted the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major in Stockholm with the eminent Swedish pianist Lars Sellergren.
Recordings
Having made a couple of records with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1928, Albert Wolff made many recordings of French orchestral music for PolydorPolydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
in Paris in the 1930s , along with some Russian pieces, and abridged versions of Faust and La Bohème (in French).
In the 1950s he set down opera and orchestral music for Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in stereo, including a complete Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, L'école des maris by Bondeville and the complete music (in the context of the play) for L'Arlésienne. With the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra his discography included Adam: Giselle (complete) and Glazunov The Seasons, overtures by Berlioz, Auber, Hérold, Suppé, Nicolai and Reznicek, orchestral works by Falla, Ravel, Lalo and Franck, Charpentier Impressions d'Italie and Massenet's Scènes Pittoresques and Scènes Alsaciennes. With the Pasdeloup Orchestra he recorded Landowski's Symphony No 1 'Jean de la Peur'.
Operas
- Sœur Béatrice (1911 ; Nice, 1948),
- Le marchand de masques (Nice, 1914),
- L'oiseau bleuL'oiseau bleuL'oiseau bleu is an opera in four acts by the French composer and conductor Albert Wolff. The libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck is based on his 1908 play of the same name.-Performance history:...
(New York, 27 December 1919).
Music for orchestra
- La randonnée de l'âme défunte
- Concerto pour flûte (1943)
- Symphonie en la
External links
Biography (in French): Jean-Philippe Mousnier: "Albert Wolff - Eugène Bigot" Edition L'Harmattan 2001.