Paul Paray



Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray (24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. He was the resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1963.

Early life and education
Paul Paray was born in Le Tréport, Normandy, on 10 October 1886. His father, Auguste, a sculptor, organist at St. Jacques church, and leader of an amateur musical society, put young Paray in the society's orchestra as a drummer. Later, Paray went to Rouen to study music with the abbots Bourgeois and Bourdon, and organ with Haelling, which prepared him to enter the Paris Conservatoire.

Career
In 1911, Paray won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata Yanitza. Deprived of paper while a prisoner of war during World War I, Paray composed his string quartet in E minor, and the piano suite D'une âme..., both in his head, only writing them down from memory after the war. Once the war was over, Paray was invited to conduct the orchestra of the Casino de Cauterets in the Pyrenees, which included players from the Lamoureux Orchestra. Casino de Cauterets was a springboard for him to conduct orchestras in Paris.

Paray would later serve as music director of the Monte Carlo Orchestra. In 1922, Paray composed music for the Ida Rubinstein ballet Artémis troublée. That year he and the Spanish violinist Manuel Quiroga premiered his Violin Sonata. In 1931, he wrote the Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc, which was premiered at the cathedral in Rouen to commemorate the quincentenary of Joan of Arc's martyr death. Paray became president of the Concerts Colonne, and in 1935, he wrote his Symphony No. 1 in C major, which premiered there. Paray made his American debut with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in 1939. He composed his Symphony No. 2 in A major in 1941.

In 1952, Paray was appointed music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, going on to conduct them in numerous recordings for the Mercury Records' "Living Presence" series. Paray left Detroit in 1963.

Paray returned to France and maintained a healthy international guest-conducting career. He was in his tenth decade when he made his last conducting appearance in the United States, leading the Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. A report in Musical America noted: "Now ninety-two, Paray brings to the podium not only a reputation as one of the great conductors of our time, but strength, energy, and a solid technique that have not diminished through the years."

Awards and recognition
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. The government of France awarded him its highest honor, the Grand-Croix de la Légion d'honneur, in 1975.

Personal life
Paray heeded the call to arms and joined the French Army in World War I. In 1914, he was taken prisoner of war and held in Darmstadt camp.

Paray married Yolande Falck in Cassis, France, on 25 August 1942. He died in Monte Carlo in 1979, aged 93.

Selected works

 * Stage
 * Yanitza, Scène lyrique d'après une légende albanaise (1911); poem by Georges Spitzmuller
 * 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♭ 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