Charles Munch
Birth: 26 Sep 1891 Strasbourg, Departement du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France
Death: 6 Nov 1968 (aged 77) Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, USA
Burial: Cimetière de Louveciennes, Louveciennes, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France
Memorial #: 76367260
Bio: Conductor, Violinist. A noted maestro on both sides of the Atlantic, he is best remembered for his tenure with the Boston Symphony during which he produced some of the first stereo recordings. Born in what was then the German Empire to a musical family, he trained at the Strasbourg Conservatory and in Paris. Munch joined the German Army in 1914, served as a sergeant of artillery, was wounded at Verdun, then returned home and took French citizenship in 1919. During the 1920s he was a professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; making his conducting bow in 1932 with a hired collection of players he was successful enough to begin receiving podium jobs and thru the 1930s was to lead the Lamoureux Orchestra, the Orchestra Symphonique de Paris, and other ensembles. A noted exponent of the works of Hector Berlioz, he also championed the music of several lesser known composers such as Honegger and Roussel. A professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1937 to 1945, he led the Conservatory Orchestra in performances throughout World War II; though his activities were of necessity kept quiet Munch was to funnel money to the Resistance and to facilitate the survival of several Jewish musicians, for his efforts receiving the Legion of Honour in 1945, his designation upgraded to Commander in 1952. Munch's honours as well as the general esteem in which he was held give the lie to rumours that he had joined pianist Alfred Cortot as a Nazi collaborator during the war. After first conducting the Boston Symphony in 1946 he was appointed Music Director in 1949 and was popular with audiences as well as with the players who were tired of Serge Koussevitzky's iron hand. Naturally well known for programing the works of such French composers as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, he also earned praise for interpreting the Germanic masters from Bach thru Brahams and Wagner. An innovator, he was active in commissioning new works and was to lead 39 world premieres. When RCA Victor was pioneering stereophonic recording in the 1950s Munch was one the first, along with Fritz Reiner in Chicago, to take advantage of the new medium, with Munch's first stereo sessions being a 1954 complete rendering of Berlioz' "The Damnation of Faust". For several years music was preserved on both monaural and two-track tape; the first commercial stereo recordings were marketed on reel-to-reel tape with disc cutting and home playback equipment eventually catching up. Munch left Boston in 1962 and returned to France where he became president of the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris in 1963, accepted numerous guest conducting assignments, and in 1967 assumed his final job as founding Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. He died of a heart attack in a Richmond hotel while on a concert tour. Today much of his massive recorded legacy is available on RCA, Decca, EMI, and other labels while some live performance DVDs have been preserved. Of the responsibility inherent in his profession he said: "The collective conscience of a hundred musicians is no light burden. Think for a moment of what it would mean to a pianist if by some miracle every key of his instrument should suddenly become a living thing".
Family Members
Spouse
Geneviève Maury Munch 1886-1956
Maintained by: Find a Grave
Originally Created by: Bob Hufford (46784943)
Added: 11 Sep 2011
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76367260/charles-munch
Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/76367260/charles-munch : accessed 13 May 2021), memorial page for Charles Munch (26 Sep 1891–6 Nov 1968), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76367260, citing Cimetière de Louveciennes, Louveciennes, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
