Editing Paul Paray

{{Short description|French conductor, organist and composer (1886–1979)}}
[[File:Paul Paray.jpg|thumb|Paul Paray]]
'''Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray''' (French: [pɔl paʁɛ]; 24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. After winning France's top musical award, the [[Prix de Rome]], he fought in the [[First World War]] and was a prisoner of war for nearly four years. He held a succession of chief conductorships, including those of the [[Lamoureux Orchestra|Lamoureux]] and [[Colonne Orchestra|Colonne]] Orchestras in Paris and the [[Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra]] in Monaco. For ten years from 1952 he was chief conductor of the [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra]], with which he made a celebrated series of recordings for [[Mercury Records#Mercury Living Presence series|Mercury Records]]' "Living Presence" series, many of which have been digitally released in the 21st century. 

==Life and career==
===Early years===
Paul Paray was born in [[Le Tréport]], Normandy, on 10 October 1886,<ref name=grove>Goodwin, Noël [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000020887 "Paray, Paul"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2011 {{subscription}},</ref> the second son and youngest of three children of Auguste Paray and his wife Hortense {{née}} Picard.<ref>Mousnier, pp. 3–4</ref> Auguste's principal occupation was as an ivory sculptor, but he was also a working musician – organist of the church of Saint-Jacques au Tréport and musical director of the town’s municipal band and theatre.<ref name=dp>Patmore, David. [https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Paul__Paray_/68745 "Paul Paray"], A–Z of Conductors, Naxos, 2007</ref> He gave his three children their first music lessons. Both sons sang in the choir of [[Rouen Cathedral]], for which, aged fourteen, Paray composed his first [[Magnificat]], which his biographer David Patmore writes has remained in the choir's repertoire ever since.<ref name=dp/>

With the help of [[Henri Dallier]], organist of [[La Madeleine, Paris]], Paray entered the [[Paris Conservatoire]] in 1904, where he studied harmony with [[Xavier Leroux]] and counterpoint and composition with [[Georges Caussade]].<ref name=dp/> He also studied with [[Charles Lenepveu]] and [[Paul Vidal]].<ref>[http://www.jstor.org/stable/907044 "Foreign Notes"], ''The Musical Times'' 52, no. 823 (1911), p. 604</ref> He played the piano, cello and timpani,<ref name=dp/> but remained best known for his organ playing: in 1907 ''[[L'Ouest-Éclair]]'', reporting a [[Saint Cecilia]]'s Day concert, singled out Paray's organ playing for its perfection.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k641621c/f4.item.r=%22Paul%20Paray%22 "Mayenne"], ''L'Ouest-Éclair'', 18 November 1907, p. 4</ref> After compulsory military service, not far from his home, in an infantry regiment in [[Dieppe]], he accepted in 1909 the position of piano accompanist in the Parisian [[Cabaret des Quat'z'Arts]] an establishment directed by [[Gabriel Montoya]]. There he met [[Maurice Yvain]], and became friends with several famous [[chanson|chansonniers]] of the time.<ref>Mousnier, p. 11</ref>

===Prix de Rome and First World War===
In 1911 Paray competed for France's most prestigious musical prize, the [[Prix de Rome]], and was awarded first prize for his cantata ''Yanitza'' by a jury that included [[Gabriel Fauré]] – director of the Conservatoire – and other composers including [[Camille Saint-Saëns]]. [[Charles-Marie Widor]] and [[Gabriel Pierné]].<ref name=dp/> Paray won the first prize with nineteen out of twenty votes.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6429431/f5.item.r=%22Paul%20Paray%22.zoom/f5n1.texteBrut "Le prix de Rome de musique"], ''L'Ouest-Éclair'', 2 July 1911, p. 5</ref>

The Prix de Rome brought with it two years' residence and study at the [[Villa Medici]], the [[French Academy in Rome]]. Shortly after his return to Paris the [[First World War]] broke out and Paray was conscripted into the French army.<ref name=grove/> He was taken prisoner after two months' fighting and held in an internment camp at [[Darmstadt]] until the end of the war in 1918.<ref name=dp/> He refused any musical collaboration with the Germans and he had no instrument, except for the modest [[harmonium]] he played on Sundays, to accompany the two religious services for Catholic and Protestant prisoners. Denied paper, he composed in his head, and after the war he transcribed the string quartet he had conceived while a prisoner.<ref name=pp>Cabon, Jean. [http://www.paulparay.com/paray_biographie.html "Paul Paray (1886-1979)"],  Cercle  Paul Paray. Retrieved 9 November 2024</ref>

===Conductor===
After his release, Paray conducted professionally for the first time at the Casino in [[Cauterets]], and shortly afterwards, on Pierné's recommendation, he made his début with the [[Lamoureux Orchestra]] in Paris<ref name=dp/> and was appointed its assistant conductor in 1920.<ref name=grove/> [[Camille Chevillard]], the orchestra's principal conductor since 1897, died in May 1923;<ref>[https://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb139268246 "Camille Chevillard (1859–1923)"], Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 9 November 2024</ref> Paray was elected to succeed him.<ref name=dp/> He remained with the orchestra for five years, including in his programmes the works of many French composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Fauré, [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]] and [[Jacques Ibert|Ibert]], whose {{lang|fr|[[Escales (Ibert)|Escales]]}} he and the orchestra premiered in 1924, before it was taken up by better-known conductors including [[Arturo Toscanini]] and [[Leopold Stokowski]].<ref name=dp/><ref>Mousnier, p. 27</ref> They also performed with several well-known solo players who were making their Paris débuts, including [[Jascha Heifetz]], [[Nathan Milstein]] and [[Yehudi Menuhin]].<ref name=dp/>

In 1928 Paray accepted the post of chief conductor of the [[Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra]] and in the summer months he was also musical director at the [[Opéra de Vichy|Vichy Casino]]. In 1933 he moved to the [[Colonne Orchestra]] in Paris, succeeding Pierné as its chief conductor. He also worked at the [[Paris Opéra]], where he conducted several operas by [[Wagner]], including ''[[Die Walküre]]'', ''[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]'' and ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]''.<ref> Cowan, Rob and James Jolly [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/podcasts/article/paul-paray-the-art-of-the-great-conductor "Paul Paray: The art of the great conductor"], ''Gramophone'', 29 July 2022: at 2 minutes 50 seconds</ref> While with the Colonne Orchestra, Paray engaged in a celebrated dispute with the music critic [[Émile Vuillermoz]], who complained in print in 1935 about what he saw as the frequent inadequacy of the performances of new works at symphony concerts. From the Colonne platform Paray denounced Vuillermoz as hypocritical and venal.<ref>"A Conductor Denounces a Critic", ''The Musical Times'', June 1935, p. 522</ref>

===1939–1952===
The French government sent Paray to America to represent France at the [[1939 New York World's Fair|1939 World’s Fair]], conducting the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]]. He made a sufficiently strong impression to be offered the post of co-conductor of the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]] with Toscanini, but chose to return to France, just as the Second World War was about to start.<ref name=dp/> The Colonne and Lamoureux Orchestras had merged to form a single ensemble, and Paray agreed to share its musical direction jointly with [[Eugène Bigot]]. After the German invasion of France in 1940 the Nazi administration wished to drop the name Colonne because the orchestra's founder, [[Edouard Colonne]], was of Jewish descent. Paray resigned and refused to appear again in occupied Paris. In [[Limoges]] and [[Marseille]] in [[Vichy France]] he conducted French Radio’s Orchestre National. Asked to identify the Jewish members of the orchestra, he refused, resigned and moved to neutral [[Monaco]].<ref name=dp/> According to Patmore, in Monte Carlo Paray helped many musicians and became an active member of the French resistance. He later criticised other musicians, most conspicuously [[Charles Munch (conductor)|Charles Munch]] and [[Arthur Honegger]], who remained in Paris; the biographer [[D. Kern Holoman]] gives a different angle on this, writing that Paray stayed safely in Monte Carlo while Munch and Honegger, despite impeccable and personally dangerous anti-Nazi credentials, had the more challenging time by remaining in Paris. After a lawsuit, Paray had to retract his defamations and apologise. Holoman attributes Paray's animus against Munch to "simple jealousy" of the latter's professional eminence, outstripping his own.<ref>Holoman, pp. 70–72</ref>

Paray married his long-term partner, Yolande Falck in 1942.<ref>Oron, Aryeh. [https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Paray-Paul.htm " Paul Paray (Conductor, Organ, Composer)"], ''Bach Cantatas'', 2013</ref> Returning to Paris after the [[Liberation of Paris|Liberation]] he once again directed the Colonne Orchestra between 1945 and 1952. He toured Europe with the [[Vienna Philharmonic]]. He conducted the [[Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]] in 1949 and was invited back every year, continuing to appear with the orchestra until shortly before his death. Following a successful appearance in America in 1951 with the recently reconstituted [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra]], he was appointed as the orchestra’s chief conductor with effect from 1952.<ref name=dp/>

===Detroit: 1952–1962===
For his first three years at Detroit, Paray managed to divide his activities between the US and Europe, but from 1956 he made his home in Detroit. He left the Colonne Orchestra (succeeded by Munch) and restricted his returns to France to two annual series of concerts, mainly with the [[Orchestre National de France]]. In Detroit – and also in [[Pittsburgh]], New York and [[Philadelphia]], where he was regularly invited – Paray took satisfaction in conducting, along with mainstream classical works, music by American and Canadian composers including [[Aaron Copland]], [[Samuel Barber]], [[Ned Rorem]] and [[Walter Piston]].<ref name=pp/>

In Detroit, Paray made a series of recordings, served by the new [[Mercury Records#Mercury Living Presence series|"Living Presence]]" technique of the Mercury record company – developed by Robert Fine and [[Wilma Cozart Fine]] – which were bestsellers in the United States, and were soon distributed worldwide.<ref name=pp/> In October 1956 he conducted the inaugural concert at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, in a programme that included his own ''Mass for the 550th Anniversary of Joan of Arc''.<ref name=baker>Slonimsky and Kuhn, pp. 2712–2713</ref> He retired from the chief conductorship at Detroit in 1962 and was given the title of Emeritus Conductor. He returned to the orchestra for four weeks each year, from his home in Monte Carlo.<ref name=pp/>

===Last years: 1962–1979===
As a freelance, Paray was continually invited to conduct major symphony orchestras in France and mainland Europe and in North America. At the age of 80 he conducted the Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo on a tour of 43 concerts throughout the United States and Canada, from February to April 1966. A year later, replacing Munch at short notice, he took the [[Orchestre de Paris]] to [[Kiev]], Moscow, [[Leningrad]] and [[Riga]].<ref name=pp/>

In July 1977, at the age of 91, Paray conducted an orchestral concert in honour of [[Marc Chagall]]'s 90th birthday celebrations in [[Nice]]. Shortly after conducting a concert in which his old friend Menuhin was soloist, Paray died in Monte Carlo on 10 October 1979 aged 93. At his wish, he was buried in the cemetery of his native Le Tréport.<ref name=pp/>

==Reputation==
===Composer===
''[[Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians]]'' describes Paray as "the composer of several highly competent works" including ''Yanita'', the Mass, the Violin Sonata, a Cello Sonata (1919)  a ballet – {{lang|fr|Artémis troublée}} (1922), a Fantasie for piano and orchestra (1923) and two symphonies (1935 and 1940).<ref name=baker/> ''[[Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' comments, "As a composer he tended towards academic propriety".<ref name=grove/>

===Conductor===
According to ''Grove'', Paray gained a reputation as "a reliable conductor in a wide range of the classical repertory".<ref name=grove/> The British magazine ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'', reviewing the release of his Mercury recordings on 45 CDs, classed him as a great conductor and said that he created a magnificent ensemble during his ten years as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's music director.<ref>Cowan, Rob and James Jolly [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/podcasts/article/paul-paray-the-art-of-the-great-conductor "Paul Paray: The art of the great conductor"], ''Gramophone'', 29 July 2022</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' said of him, "He was credited with establishing the Detroit Symphony as a thoroughly professional ensemble of national stature, and within two years after taking it over, he brought it to New York for its first concert here".<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/13/archives/paul-paray-leader-of-orchestras-93-appeared-frequently-in-new-york.html "Paul Paray"], ''The New York Times'', 13 October 1979, p. 34</ref> The same paper remarked "Mr Paray limited his conducting of 20th‐century works to those of a conservative stamp".<ref name=nyt/>

===Honours===
Paray was elected to the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts]] in 1950. His awards included a doctorate of law from [[Wayne University]], the City Medal from [[Tel Aviv]], and honorary citizenships of Detroit, [[Diemeringen]], Le Tréport and Monaco. He was named a Grand Officer of the [[Order of Grimaldi]] in 1967, and awarded the Grand Cross of the [[Ordre national du Mérite|National Order of Merit]] in 1971.  In the [[Legion of Honour]], like Saint-Saëns and Fauré before him, he was promoted to the highest rank, Grand Cross.<ref name=pp/>

==Selected works==
[[File:Artemis troublee by L. Bakst 01.jpg|thumb|200px|Sketch for ''Artémis troublée'' by Léon Bakst]]
;Stage
* ''Yanitza'', Scène lyrique d'après une légende albanaise (1911); poem by {{ill|Georges Spitzmuller|fr}}
* ''Artémis troublée'', ballet by [[Ida Rubinstein]], costumes by [[Léon Bakst]] (1911–1912)

;Orchestral
* ''Symphonie d'archets'' for string orchestra (1919); orchestration of the string quartet
* ''Nocturne'' for chamber orchestra
* Symphony No. 1 in C major (1934)
* Symphony No. 2 in A major (1936)

;Concertante
* ''Fantaisie'' for piano and orchestra (1909)
* ''Humoresque'' for violin and chamber orchestra (1910)

;Chamber music
* Piano Trio (1905)
* ''Sérénade'' for violin (or flute) and piano (1908)
* Sonata in C minor for violin and piano (1908)
* ''Humoresque'' for violin and piano (or chamber orchestra) (1910)
* ''Nocturne'' for violin (or cello) and piano (1910)
* String Quartet in E minor (1919)
* Sonata No. 1 in B{{music|flat}} major for cello and piano (1919)
* Sonata No. 2 in C major for cello and piano

;Piano
* ''Tarantelle''
* ''Scherzetto''
* ''Impromptu''
* ''Vertige''
* ''Incertitude''
* ''Entêtement''
* ''Berceuse''
* ''Valse-caprice'' (1906)
* ''Romance'' (1909)
* ''Portraits d'enfants'' (1910)
* ''Valse sur un thème de Franz Schubert'' (1911)
* ''Impressions'' (1912)
:#     Nostalgie
:#     Eclaircie
:#     Primesaut
* ''Reflets romantiques'' (1912)
:#     Avec esprit et charme
:#     Ardemment
:#     En rêvant
:#     Avec fougue
:#     Souple
:#     Léger
:#     Tender
:#     Energique
* Sept pièces (1913)
* ''Presto'' (1913)
* ''Prélude, scherzo et allegro''
* Thème et variations (1913)
* Prélude in F major (1913)
* ''Allegro'' (1913)
* ''Scherzo'' (1913)
* ''D'une âme...'' (1914)
* Pieces for piano 4-hands (1914)
* ''Éclaircie'' (1923)
* ''Prélude'' (1930)
* ''Allegretto''
* ''Prélude en mi bémol mineur''
* ''Prélude en fa mineur''
* ''Sur la mer''
* ''Valse en fa dièse mineur''
* ''Valse en fa mineur''
* ''Vertige''
* ''La vraie furlana''

;Vocal
* ''Nuit d'Italie'' for voice and piano; words by [[Paul Bourget]]
* ''Laurette'' for voice and piano; words by [[Alfred de Vigny]]
* ''Sépulcre'' for voice and piano; words by [[Leon Volade]]
* ''Paroles à la lune'' for voice and piano (1903); words by [[Anna de Noailles]]
* ''Panis Angelicus'' for voice and cello (1904)
* ''Dans les bois'' for voice and piano (1904); words by [[Gérard de Nerval]]
* ''La Promesse'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1910); words by [[Gabriel Montoya]]
* ''La Plainte'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1911); words by [[Lucien Paté]]
* ''Le Papillon'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1911); words by [[Jean Aicard]]
* ''Le Champ de bataille'' (1912); words by [[Théophile Gautier]]
* ''Trois Mélodies'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1912); words by [[Théophile Gautier]]
:#     Infidélité
:#     La Dernière feuille
:#     Serment
* ''Villanelle'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1912); words by [[Théophile Gautier]]
* ''Chanson violette'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1913); words by [[Albert Samain]]
* ''Le Chevrier'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1913); words by [[José-Maria de Heredia]]
* ''Il est d'étranges soirs'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1913) words by [[Albert Samain]]
* ''Viole'' for voice and piano (1913); words by Albert Samain
* ''In manus tuas'' for voice, oboe and organ (1914)
* ''Quatre poèmes de [[Jean Lahor]]'' for voice and piano or orchestra (1921)
:#     Après l'orage
:#     Adieux
:#     Après le bal
:#     Dèsir de mort
* ''Vocalise-étude'' for medium voice and piano (1924)
* ''Le Poèt et la muse'' for voice and piano; words by E. Thévenet
* ''L'Embarquement pour l'idéal'' for voice and piano; words by [[Catulle Mendès]]
* ''Mortes les fleurs'' for voice and piano; words by P. May
* ''Chanson napolitaine'' for voice and piano; words by P. May

;Choral
* ''Os Justi'', Offertorium for chorus and organ (1903)
* ''Acis et Galatée'', Cantata (1910)
* ''Jeanne d'Arc'', Oratorio (1913); words by [[Gabriel Montoya]]
* ''Salve Regina'' for chorus a cappella (1929)
* ''Messe du cinquième centenaire de la mort de Jeanne d'Arc'' (Mass for the Fifth Centenary of the Death of Joan of Arc) for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1931)
* ''Nuit tombante'' for chorus and orchestra
* ''Pastorale de Noël'' pour for soloists, chorus and orchestra
* ''Soleils de septembre'' for chorus and orchestra

::Source: Cercle Paul Paray.<ref name=pp/>

===References===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book | last = Holoman | first = D. Kern | authorlink=D. Kern Holoman|title = Charles Munch
| date = 2012| location = New York | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-977270-4}}
* {{cite book | last = Mousnier | first = Jean-Philippe | title = Paul Paray: Les grands chefs d'orchestre
| date = 1998| location =Paris | publisher = Editions L'Harmattan | isbn =
978-2-73-846352-4 }}
*{{cite book | editor1-last = Slonimsky | editor1-first = Nicolas | editor-link = Nicolas Slonimsky | editor2 = Laura Kuhn | title = Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians | volume = 4 | date = 2001 | location = New York | publisher = Schirmer | isbn = 978-0-02-865530-7 }}

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{{s-culture}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lamoureux Orchestra|Principal Conductors, Lamoureux Orchestra]]| before=[[Camille Chevillard]] | years=1923&ndash;1928| after=[[Albert Wolff (conductor)|Albert Wolff]]
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{{succession box | title=[[Israel Philharmonic Orchestra|Music Directors, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]] | before=none | years=1949&ndash;1950| after=[[Jean Martinon]]
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{{Detroit Symphony conductors}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paray, Paul}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:French male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Israel]]
[[Category:French expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Prix de Rome for composition]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:People from Seine-Maritime]]
[[Category:20th-century French conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century French male musicians]]
[[Category:Conductors of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]]
[[Category:Music directors of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra]]
[[Category:Principal conductors of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra]]