Giuseppe Verdi. Rigoletto (in French). Rec. 1912, con. François Ruhlmann
06.06.2010, 02:14
François Ruhlmann (born Brussels11 January 1868, died 1948)
was a French conductor.
He was a pupil of Joseph Dupont in Brussels.
As a child he sang in the chorus at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and at 7
played the oboe in the orchestra.
Ruhlmann’s first conducting engagement was at the Théâtre
des Arts in Rouen in 1892. This was
followed by further work in Liège and Antwerp,
before a return to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in 1898.
François Ruhlmann began his career at the Opéra-Comique, Paris
on 6 September 1905 (with Carmen),
then at the death of Alexandre Luigini became principal conductor in 1906
(retiring from the position in 1914). Although mobilised in 1914, he returned
occasionally during the war to conduct.
From 1911 he conducted at the theatre of the Casino of Aix-les-Bains.
Later he championed works by Dukas, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel at the Concerts
Populaires in Brussels. In 1920
Ruhlmann tried to mediate in a dispute involving the musicians unions in Paris,
although he sympathised with the players.
In 1919 he transferred to the Opéra, where he remained until
1938.
He conducted many operatic premieres:
Les Pêcheurs
de Saint Jean (Widor)
1905
Les Armaillis (Doret) 1906
Le roi aveugle (Février) 1906
Ariane et
Barbe-bleue (Dukas) 1907
Le Chemineau (Leroux) 1907
La Habanéra (Laparra) 1908
The Snow maiden (Rimsky-Korsakov) Paris
premiere 1908
Chiquito (Nouguès) 1909
On ne badine
pas avec l’amour
(d’Erlanger) 1910
Macbeth (Bloch) 1910
Bérénice (Magnard) 1911
L’Ancêtre (Saint-Saëns) Paris premiere 1911
L’heure
espagnole (Ravel) 1911
Thérèse (Massenet) Paris premiere 1911
La sorcière (Erlanger) 1912
La Lépreuse (Lazzari) 1912
La vida breve (Falla) Paris premiere 1913
Mârouf (Rabaud) 1914
Lorenzaccio (Moret) 1920
Esther, princesse d’Israël (Mariotte) 1925
He was long associated with Pathé, for whom he made many
recordings, including six complete operas after 1910, including Rigoletto
(Verdi) on 28 sides; Faust (Gounod) on 54 sides; and Le Trouvère
(Verdi), 1912 on 38 sides. He also conducted the 1911 Pathé recording of Carmen.
