{"id":2953,"date":"2018-10-17T14:21:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T14:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ripm.org\/cnc\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2018-10-17T14:21:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T14:21:15","slug":"pierre-monteux-in-the-musical-trenches-of-world-war-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/?p=2953","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Monteux in the (Musical) Trenches
 of World War I"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September 1916, amidst the devastation of World War I, Musical America <\/em>announced that eminent French conductor Pierre Monteux would lead an American tour of the famed Ballets Russes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXVI No. 9 (30 June 1917: 2; Vol. XXIV No 22 (30 September 1916): 25.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Monteux had been serving on the French front lines for several years, seeing action at the battles of Verdun, Soissons and the Argonne.\u00a0 During this period, to divert the attention of his fellow soldiers, Monteux also founded a small military band, depicted in the following remarkable photograph.<\/p>\n

\"\"Monteux, pictured standing far left, with his small military band
\nMusical America, Vol. XXVII No. 5 (1 December 1917): 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

With special permission to leave the front, Monteux and his wife set sail for America.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXIV No. 23 (7 October 1916): 40.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after his arrival, Monteux faced a related but very different sort of conflict.\u00a0 The title of this article and its concise content speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ibid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the report, Monteux refused to conduct the premiere ballet production of Strauss\u2019s Till Eulenspiegel <\/em>on the grounds that Richard Strauss, who was German, was in public support of his country\u2019s war efforts against the French. What ensued in the following weeks was a hotly contested debate surrounding Monteux\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Of the related comments published in Musical America, <\/em>perhaps most interesting are those written by the journal\u2019s editors harshly criticizing the conductor.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ibid., 20.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, \u201cMephisto\u2019s Musings\u201d strongly criticized in satire how Monteux\u2019s position was perceived by this initially unidentified author, whom we now know to be the journal\u2019s longtime editor-in-chief, John C. Freund.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXIV No. 26 (28 October 1916): 7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, many wrote in support of Monteux\u2019s decision not to conduct Strauss\u2019s premiere. \u00a0Perhaps unsurprisingly, most were French musicians.\u00a0 One was Carlos Salzedo, the influential harpist, who wrote a letter to the editors of Musical America, <\/em>stating that Monteux was obligated by French law to refuse to conduct Strauss.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXIV No. 25 (21 October 1916): 26.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Famed French violinist Jacques Thibaud, who also served in World War I, supported Monteux\u2019s refusal, stating that his position was merely retribution for Strauss\u2019s offensive comments about French musicians while conducting in Paris.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXIV No. 26 (28 October 1916): 2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Monteux in his military uniform
\nMusical America<\/em>, Vol. XXVI No. 4 (26 May 1917): 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

After several weeks of debate in the press, an article is published in which Richard Strauss pleads for tolerance of \u201cenemy\u201d music in Germany, though Monteux is not mentioned.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXV No. 2 (11 November 1916): 28.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Monteux\u2019s feelings about the performance of contemporary German music was mirrored to some degree when, in Chicago, Debussy\u2019s \u201cChristmas Carol for Homeless French Children\u201d was removed from a program.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXV No. 4 (25 November 1916): 13.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, more than one year after the initial report of Monteux\u2019s refusal to conduct Strauss\u2019s work, Musical America <\/em>published a full-page interview with the French conductor in December 1917, wherein Monteux is offered an opportunity to explain his decision in greater detail. The following is a short excerpt from the interview.<\/p>\n

\"\"Musical America,\u00a0<\/em>Vol. XXVII No. 5 (1 December 1917): 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite his controversial position, Monteux was well-received in the United States, as reflected in the following clipping, for his conducting and musical interpretations, and would go on to hold successful tenures at the Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. \u00a0He also founded the Pierre Monteux School for young conductors and orchestral musicians, which continues to function to this day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RIPM search tip<\/span><\/u>: When searching \u201cMonteux\u201d as a keyword, the name appears in the RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals in 185 citations. In RIPM\u2019s European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), Monteux\u2019s name appears on 2,406 pages!<\/span><\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>here<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0subscribe to RIPM\u2019s\u00a0Curios, News, and Chronicles!\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When is our next posting?\u00a0To find out, follow us on\u00a0<\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein.\u00a0 Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).<\/span><\/p>\n

WWW.RIPM.ORG<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In September 1916, amidst the devastation of World War I, Musical America announced that eminent French conductor Pierre Monteux would lead an American tour of the famed Ballets Russes. Musical America,\u00a0Vol. XXVI No. 9 (30 June 1917: 2; Vol. XXIV No 22 (30 September 1916): 25.\u00a0 Monteux had been serving on the French front lines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curioschronicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3124,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/3124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}