Edouard Colonne (Edouard Juda Colonne) was a French
violinist and conductor born (in Bordeaux) on July 23, 1838. He is best recognized as the founder
(actually, co-founder) of the Concerts Colonne and what became known as the
Colonne Orchestra in Paris, in 1873. He
was an orchestral violinist for at least ten years but is now almost
exclusively remembered as a conductor and concert promoter, in the style of
Theodore Thomas. He began his music
studies at age 8, but not on the violin.
He entered the Paris Conservatory at about age 17 but did not study with
any famous teachers there. While going
to school, he played in the orchestra of the Lyric Theatre. In 1863 he won first prize for his violin
playing and had already (in 1858) won first prize in harmony. He was engaged as concertmaster for the Paris
Opera orchestra in 1858 – he was 20 years old.
He also played second violin in the Lamoureux Quartet at the same time –
Charles Lamoureux played first violin. Possibly
(actually, very probably) simultaneously, he also played in Jules Pasdeloup’s
orchestra. In 1867, he came to New York
to play in an orchestra for a newly founded comic opera company; while in New
York, Colonne later led an ensemble called Niblo’s Garden Orchestra which until
now I had never heard of. He returned to
Paris in 1871 and conducted a hotel orchestra for a while. In 1873, he founded – together with a music
publisher – the orchestra that would become the Colonne Orchestra. His concerts became known as the Concerts
Colonne. This name was used until the
1960s – about ninety years. At first,
the orchestra presented its concerts at the Odeon Theatre and later at the
Theatre of the Chatelet. Colonne was
known to champion the music of Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler,
and Camille Saint Saens. It has been
said that Pierre Monteux was Principal violist of the Colonne Orchestra. Other famous players who played in his
orchestra for a time were Julius Conus and Jacques Thibaud. Colonne gave the Paris premiere of
Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony in 1878, the year it was completed. The orchestra toured Spain, Russia, Portugal,
Germany, and England. Among the musical luminaries who conducted the orchestra in performances of their own works were Serge Prokofiev, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Peter Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg, and Maurice Ravel. In 1892, Colonne became
conductor and adviser at the Paris Opera.
He was 54 years old. In 1907 (one
source says 1906), he was one of the first to record with an orchestra. It has been said that he was hard on his
players. Colonne was a pioneer in that
his program books were the first to include program notes. Perhaps they included advertisements as well
though I’m not at all sure about that. He
died (in Paris) on March 28, 1910, at age 71.
Jacques Thibaud was a French violinist born on September 27, 1880 (Brahms was 47 years old.) After studying with his father, he entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 13, studying with Martin Marsick, among others. Upon graduation in 1896, he shared first prize in violin with Pierre Monteux (who later dedicated his life to conducting.) At first, in order to just make a living, he played in the Cafe Rouge in Paris. The French conductor, Edouard Colonne, heard him playing there and offered Thibaud a position in his orchestra. In 1898, he made his debut with this orchestra and subsequently enjoyed great success as a soloist in Europe and everywhere else. This episode mirrors that of another famous violinist who was discovered playing in an Italian Cafe by Toscanini – Vasa Prihoda. (Albert Sammons was also discovered in similar fashion by Thomas Beecham.) In any case, Thibaud made his first tour of the U.S. in 1903 and thereafter came often. He was in the French armed forces during World War One (1914) and suffered injuries which required him to rebuild his technique. With his two brothers (a pianist and a cellist), he also formed a piano trio. Later, he disbanded the brothers’ trio in order to join Pablo Casals and Alfred Cortot in another trio (1930-1935.) Eugene Ysaye dedicated his second unaccompanied violin sonata to him. In 1943, with pianist Marguerite Long, he established the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition for violinists and pianists. His recordings are (understandably) few but they are now collectors’ items. He had a habit of holding his violin pointing downward although that did not detract from the technique or the sound. There are even a few videos of him playing on YouTube – from filming done in the 1930s. Here is one of them. Thibaud died on September 1, 1953 in an airplane crash in the French Alps. He was 72. His fellow French concert violinist, Ginette Neveu, had earlier died in a plane crash as well (1949 - at age 30.) Thibaud owned the 1716 Colossus Stradivarius violin which was stolen in 1998. It has been missing ever since.
Neville Marriner is an English violinist and conductor born on April 15, 1924 (Heifetz was 23 years old.) Marriner studied at the Royal College of Music and at the Paris Conservatory, though he was never a concert violinist. He had no famous violin teachers either. In 1949, he played violin in the Virtuoso String Trio and in the Martin String Quartet (second violin.) By 1952, he had become a member of the London Philharmonic. From 1956 to 1968, he was principal second violin with the London Symphony Orchestra. While he held that post, he founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (1959). The Academy is an English chamber orchestra which began life without a conductor in the style of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Marriner led from the concertmaster’s chair) – this orchestra later made him famous. Simultaneously, he was also associated with the Jacobean Ensemble. In 1959, he studied conducting (during summers in the U.S.) with Pierre Monteux (as did David Zinman.) He was also a violin instructor at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1949 until 1959 (some sources say until 1950.) After gradually assuming the conductor’s post with the Academy, he was the first music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (1969-1978.) From 1979 to 1986, he was music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Subsequently, he was principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony (1986-1989.) Should you ever want to listen to Marriner’s violin playing, you can buy his recording of the concerto for four violins by Vivaldi. Though Marriner has well over 200 recordings to his credit, he is best known for his connection to the soundtrack for the Mozart movie – Amadeus.
David Zinman is an American violinist, conductor, and teacher born on July 9, 1936 (Stravinsky was 54 years old.) However, I do not know if he ever played violin professionally (as Lorin Maazel did.) At age 6 he began studying the violin and later entered the Oberlin Conservatory (Ohio), from which he graduated; afterward he studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota. At Tanglewood (Massachusetts - 1958), he concentrated on conducting and soon received an invitation from Pierre Monteux to become his assistant with the London Symphony (1961-1964.) In 1965 (at age 29), he became assistant conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and remained there for 12 years (1965-1977.) From then on, his career in Europe was established. His American debut was in Philadelphia, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, in 1967. In 1974 (while still assisting in the Netherlands), he was appointed conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic (1974-1985.) Almost simultaneously, he was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1979-1982.) In 1985, he became conductor of the Baltimore Symphony where he remained for 14 years (1985-1998.) Prior to his last season with the Baltimore Symphony, he was appointed music director of the Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich, Switzerland - 1995) where he remains up to this day. Zinman has conducted nearly every major orchestra in the world and his discography is very extensive, numbering well over 100. His recording of all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Tonhalle Orchestra was especially well-received. He has also been recognized for several of his recordings through major prizes (Grammys, Gramophone Award, Edison, Grand Prix du Disque, etc.) Zinman teaches at the Curtis Institute (Philadelphia) and is Director (since 1998) of the Aspen Music Festival which takes place over a two-month span every summer. In Zurich, he is known for having begun an innovative late night series of concerts called Tonhalle Late. In Baltimore, he was known for playing a considerable amount of contemporary music and a Saturday morning series of concerts called Casual Concerts. Despite brilliant skills and nearly universal acclaim and adulation, for reasons known only to a select few, David Zinman has never been Principal Conductor of any world-class orchestra – Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Concertgebouw, London, Vienna and all the rest.
