Editing Ernest Ansermet

{{Short description|Swiss conductor (1883–1969)}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2013}}
<!-- please do not add an infobox, per [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes]]-->[[Image:ErnestAnsermet.jpg|290px|thumb|Photo circa 1920s, signed 1933]]
'''Ernest Alexandre Ansermet''' ({{IPA|fr|ɛʁnɛst alɛksɑ̃dʁ ɑ̃sɛʁmɛ|lang}}; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)<ref name=Brit>"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|The New Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Chicago: [[Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.]], 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435.</ref> was a Swiss [[Conducting|conductor]].

== Biography ==
Ansermet was born in [[Vevey]],<ref name=Brit/> Switzerland. Originally he was a mathematics professor, teaching at the University of [[Lausanne]]. He began conducting at the Casino in [[Montreux]] in 1912, and from 1915 to 1923 was the conductor for [[Sergei Diaghilev|Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]]. Travelling in France for this, he met both [[Claude Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel]], and consulted them on the performance of their works. During World War I, he met [[Igor Stravinsky]], who was exiled in Switzerland, and from this meeting began the conductor's lifelong association with Russian music.

In 1918 Ansermet founded his own orchestra, the [[Orchestre de la Suisse Romande]] (OSR). He toured widely in Europe and America and became famous for accurate performances of difficult modern music, making first recordings of works such as Stravinsky's ''Capriccio'' with the composer as soloist. Ansermet was one of the first in the field of [[classical music]] to take [[jazz]] seriously, and in 1919 he wrote an article praising [[Sidney Bechet]].<ref>Ernest Ansermet, 'Sur un orchestre nègre', ''La Revue Romande'', 1 October 1919.</ref>

After World War II, Ansermet and his orchestra rose to international prominence through a long-term contract with [[Decca Records]]. From that time until his death, he recorded most of his repertoire, often two or three times. His interpretations were widely regarded as admirably clear and authoritative, though the orchestral playing did not always reach the highest international standards, and they differed notably from those of other famous 20th-century specialists, notably [[Pierre Monteux]] and Stravinsky himself. Ansermet disapproved of Stravinsky's practice of revising his works, and always played the original versions. Although famous for performing much modern music by other composers such as [[Arthur Honegger]] and [[Frank Martin (composer)|Frank Martin]], he avoided altogether the music of [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and his associates, even criticizing Stravinsky when he began to use twelve-tone techniques in his compositions.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Krausz | first=Michael |date=Summer 1984| title=The Tonal and the Foundational: Ansermet on Stravinsky | journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism | volume=42  | issue=4 | pages=383–386 | jstor= 430211| doi=10.2307/430211 | publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref>  In Ansermet's book, ''Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine'' (1961), he sought to prove, using [[Edmund Husserl|Husserlian]] [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]] and partly his own mathematical studies, that Schoenberg's idiom was false and irrational.  He labeled it a "Jewish idea" and went on to say that "the Jew is a ''me'' who speaks as though he were an ''I''," that the Jew "suffers from thoughts doubly misformed", thus making him "suitable for the handling of money", and sums up with the statement that "historic creation of Western music" would have developed just as well "without the Jew".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andriessen|first1=Louis, and Elmer Schönberger|title=The Apollonian Clockwork: On Stravinsky|date=2006|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|location=Amsterdam|isbn=9053568565|page=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOahhTXMIb0C|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref> Ansermet's reputation suffered after the war because of his collaboration with the Nazis and he was boycotted in the new state of Israel.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sheffi|first1=N'ama|title=The Ring of Myths: The Israelis, Wagner and the Nazis|date=2013|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|location=Eastbourne|isbn=9781845195748|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7vVWAgAAQBAJ&q=ansermet+nazi&pg=PA99|access-date=14 January 2017}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In May 1954 [[Decca Records|Decca]] recorded Ansermet and the orchestra in Europe's first commercial [[stereophonic]] recordings. They went on to record the first stereo performance of the complete ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] on [[LP album|LP]] ([[Artur Rodziński]] had already recorded a stereo performance on [[magnetic tape]], but this had been released on LP only in mono). Ansermet also conducted early stereo recordings of [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]]'s ''[[Nocturnes (Debussy)|Nocturnes]]'' and the ''[[Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune]]''. Part of his recording of ''The Rite of Spring'', augmented by a rehearsal recording unobtainable elsewhere, was used by Decca on the company's 1957 stereo demonstration LP, ''A Journey into Stereo Sound''. The conductor's clear and methodical counting of beats is a distinct feature of this rehearsal sequence. In his last years he and his ensemble recorded works by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]. In 1962, Ansermet made the first complete recording of [[Joseph Haydn]]'s [[Paris symphonies|''Paris'' symphonies]] with the OSR on Decca.

His last recording, of Stravinsky's ''[[The Firebird]]'', was made in [[London]] with the [[Philharmonia|New Philharmonia Orchestra]] in 1968, which included a recording of the rehearsal sessions issued as a memorial to him.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/02/arts/exploring-the-legacy-of-ansermet.html|title= Exploring the Legacy of Ansermet|author=Allan Kozinn|date= June 2, 1985|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=Aug 19, 2017}}</ref>  Another late recording for Decca, also issued as a memorial album, was with L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and was devoted to [[Albéric Magnard]]'s ''Symphony No. 3'' and [[Édouard Lalo]]'s ''Scherzo for Orchestra''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Ansermet-Memorial-Album-Symphony-Orchestra/dp/B002MN7UAQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1303490802&sr=1-2 |title=Ansermet Memorial Album: Magnard; Symphony # 3 / Lalo; Scherzo for Orchestra: Alberic Magnard, Edouard Lalo, Ernest Ansermet, Suisse Romande: Music |website=Amazon |access-date=2013-07-02}}</ref>

[[File:Ernest Ansermet (1965) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|Ernest Ansermet (1965)]]
Ansermet composed some piano pieces and compositions for orchestra, among them a symphonic poem entitled ''Feuilles de Printemps'' (Leaves of Spring). He also orchestrated Debussy's ''[[Six épigraphes antiques]]'' in 1939.<ref>Astilla, Christopher [https://digital.library.unt.edu/data/etd/2007_3/open/meta-dc-5205.tkl  "Between the Staves"] - Adaptations of Debussy's Six épigraphes antiques and Creative Tasks of the Performer. (December 2007) University of North Texas</ref>

He died on 20 February 1969 in [[Geneva]]<ref name=Brit/> at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news |title=Died |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900718,00.html#ixzz19wYqn0Qt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214153122/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900718,00.html#ixzz19wYqn0Qt |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2008 |work=[[Time magazine]] |date=February 28, 1969 |access-date=2011-01-03 }}</ref>

== Notable premieres ==
=== In concert ===
* [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], ''[[Histoire du soldat]]'', [[Lausanne]], 28 September 1918
* Stravinsky, ''[[Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra]]'', composer as soloist, 6 December 1929
* Stravinsky, ''[[Mass (Stravinsky)|Mass]]'', 27 October 1948

=== On stage ===
* [[Manuel de Falla]], ''[[The Three-Cornered Hat]]'', [[Ballets Russes]], [[Paris]], 1919, a ballet for which [[Léonide Massine]] created the [[choreography]] and [[Pablo Picasso]] designed the sets and costumes. (Ansermet later recorded this in stereo.)
* Stravinsky, ''[[Pulcinella (ballet)|Pulcinella]]'', Ballets Russes, [[Paris]], 15 May 1920
* [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]], ''[[Chout]]'', Ballets Russes, Paris, 1921
* Stravinsky, ''[[Renard (Stravinsky)|Renard]]'', Ballets Russes, Paris, 18 May 1922
* Stravinsky, ''[[Les noces]]'', Ballets Russes, Paris, 13 June 1923
* [[Benjamin Britten]], ''[[The Rape of Lucretia]]'', [[Glyndebourne]], 12 July 1946

=== On record ===
* Stravinsky, ''[[Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra]]'', composer as soloist, May 1930

== Writings ==
* Ansermet, Ernest. 1961. ''Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine''. 2 v. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière. New edition, edited by J.-Claude Piguet, Rose-Marie Faller-Fauconnet, et al. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière, 1987. {{ISBN|2-8252-0211-8}}
* Ansermet, Ernest. 1973. "L'apport de Paul Hindemith à la musique du XXe siècle." In ''Hommage à Paul Hindemith: 1895–1963 : l'homme et l'œuvre''. Yverdon: Éditions de la Revue musicale de suisse romande.
* Ansermet, Ernest. 1983. ''Ecrits sur la musique''. Edited by Jean-Claude Piguet. New rev. ed. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière. {{ISBN|2-8252-0207-X}}

=== Correspondence ===
[[File:Ernest Ansermet and Wilhelm Kempff (1965) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|Ansermet and [[Wilhelm Kempff]] (1965)]]
* Piguet, Jean-Claude (ed.) 1976. ''{{lang|fr|Ernest Ansermet, Frank Martin: Correspondance, 1934–1968}}''. Edited by Jean-Claude Piguet, with notes by Jacques Burdet. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière.
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 2006. ''{{lang|fr|Ernest Ansermet, correspondances avec des compositeurs américains (1926–1966): d'Aaron Copland à Virgil Thomson, les grands maîtres du nouveau monde}}''. Geneva: Georg.
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1999. ''{{lang|fr|Ernest Ansermet: Correspondances avec des chefs d'orchestre célèbres (1913–1969): précédées d'un Souvenir d'Arturo Toscanini par Ernest Ansermet (1967)}}''. Geneva: Georg. {{ISBN|2-8257-0662-0}}
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1998. ''{{lang|fr|Correspondance E. Ansermet - J.-Claude Piguet (1948–1969) }}''. Preface by Philippe Dinkel, postface by Jean-Jacques Langendorf. Geneva: Georg Editeur.
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1990–91. ''{{lang|fr|Correspondance Ansermet-Strawinsky (1914–1967)}}''. Geneva, Switzerland: Georg.
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1989a. ''{{lang|fr|Correspondance Ansermet-Ramuz, 1906–1941}}''. Preface by Maurice Zermatten. Geneva: Georg; Paris: Eshel. {{ISBN|2-8257-0183-1}}
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1989b. ''Lettres de compositeurs suisses à Ernest Ansermet, 1906–1963 '' Avant-propos by Conrad Beck; postface by [[Julien-François Zbinden]]. Geneva: Georg. {{ISBN|2-8257-0169-6}}
* Tappolet, Claude (ed.). 1983. ''{{lang|fr|Correspondance Ernest Ansermet, R.-Aloys Mooser: 1915–1969. Précédée d'un Voyage à Munich (1924) et suivie d'un Hommage à Ernest Ansermet by R.-Aloys Mooser (1969)}}''. Preface by René Dovaz. Geneva: Georg. {{ISBN|2-8257-0092-4}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{Allmusic|class=artist|id=q10370}}
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Ansermet-Ernest.htm Ernest Ansermet biography] at the Bach Cantatas Website
* [http://www.scona.ch/ansermet/discografia.php?ishow=0/ Ernest Ansermet discography]

{{OSR conductors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansermet, Ernest}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Vevey]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Swiss male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Decca Records artists]]
[[Category:Burials at Cimetière des Rois]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss male musicians]]
[[Category:Music directors of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande]]