Pierre Monteux Quotes

Pierre Benjamin Monteux was a French conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1907. He came to prominence when, for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company between 1911 and 1914, he conducted the world premieres of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and other prominent works including Petrushka, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, and Debussy's Jeux. Thereafter he directed orchestras around the world for more than half a century.

From 1917 to 1919 Monteux was the principal conductor of the French repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra , Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra , Orchestre Symphonique de Paris and San Francisco Symphony . In 1961, aged eighty-six, he accepted the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra, a post which he held until his death three years later. Although known for his performances of the French repertoire, his chief love was the music of German composers, above all Brahms. He disliked recording, finding it incompatible with spontaneity, but he nevertheless made a substantial number of records.

Monteux was well known as a teacher. In 1932 he began a conducting class in Paris, which he developed into a summer school that was later moved to his summer home in Les Baux in the south of France. After moving permanently to the US in 1942, and taking American citizenship, he founded a school for conductors and orchestral musicians in Hancock, Maine. Among his students in France and America who went on to international fame were Lorin Maazel, Igor Markevitch, Neville Marriner, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn and David Zinman. The school in Hancock has continued since Monteux's death. Wikipedia  

✵ 4. April 1875 – 1. July 1964
Pierre Monteux photo
Pierre Monteux: 20   quotes 0   likes

Famous Pierre Monteux Quotes

“I regret they don't have symphony orchestras all over the world so I could see Burma and Samarkand.”

'Pierre Monteux in his own words', Classic Record Collector, Autumn 2003, Number 34, p. 18.

“Young conductors talk too much.”

From Monteux, Doris G (1965). It's All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. OCLC 604146, p. 196

“Madame, everyone is Someone.”

From Monteux, Fifi (1962). Everyone is Someone. New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. OCLC 602036672, p. 17
Initially told by a hotel owner there were no rooms, she then said “Excuse me sir, I did not know that you were Someone. I think I can accommodate you”. Monteux replied: "Madame, everyone is Someone. Au revoir!" then left.

Pierre Monteux Quotes about music

“How I regret not having told César Franck of my profound admiration for him and his music. After playing he Sonata for violin for the first time, I nearly wept over certain phrases. The beauty of it overwhelmed me.”

Quoted in Monteux, Doris G (1965). It's All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. OCLC 604146, p. 196

“I always dreamed in my youth of a great, consuming love. I was often disappointed and returned each time to my music for consolation. It never failed me.”

From Monteux, Doris G (1965). It's All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. OCLC 604146,, p. 198

Pierre Monteux Quotes

“Now that was very impressive. But before you try to impress the ladies in the balcony, make sure the horns come in.”

Quoted from Freedland, M. André Previn. Century, 1991. p97
To a student conductor.

“E does not know 'is métier.”

Quoted from Smith, Erik (2005). "Pierre Monteux". Mostly Mozart – Articles, memoirs, rarities and surprises. Winchester: Porcellini Publications. ISBN 0-9544259-1-X., p. 37</ref>
When told that he should insist on more rehearsal time because Celibidache was given more rehearsals with an orchestra.

“Stravinsky, 'e can do what 'e like, but I have to do what ze composer 'as written.”

Quoted from Smith, Erik (2005). "Pierre Monteux". Mostly Mozart – Articles, memoirs, rarities and surprises. Winchester: Porcellini Publications. ISBN 0-9544259-1-X, pp. 36–38
Diaghilev asked him to conduct Stravinsky's new Les Noces with no rehearsal, as the composer would already have conducted the first performance, Monteux following on from there.

“Don’t be disrespectful to your players (no swearing)”

Quoted in Monteux, Doris G (1965). It's All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. OCLC 604, pp. 215-216

“Damned professional”

From Monteux, Fifi (1962). Everyone is Someone. New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. OCLC 602036672, p. 63
When asked in an interview to describe himself (as a conductor) in one word, Monteux replied in two.

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