Louis Thirion: Symphony No. 2 in B minor, Op. 17

Louis Thirion (1879-1966)

Symphony No. 2 in B minor, Op. 17

I. Tres modéré 0:00
II. Assez vite 11:56
III. Lent 17:17
IV. Animé. 28:53

Orchestra de L'ORTF
Eugène Bigot, conductor

Louis Thirion (1879-1966) was a French composer. He was born February 13, 1879 in Baccarat, the son of an organist and studied at the Nancy Conservatory first violin, then piano and organ, and finally composition under the direction of Guy Ropartz who became his mentor and with whom he remained close. Organ director of Baccarat, he was appointed, at the age of 20, professor of piano and organ at the Conservatory of Nancy. After his demobilization at the end of WW I, he took the post of interim director of the Conservatoire de Nancy to replace Guy Ropartz, who had been hired to direct the conservatory of Strasbourg, and remained there until the appointment of Alfred Bachelet in 1919. When the latter died in January 1944, the mayor of Nancy again entrusted Thirion with the post of interim director. He was also conductor of the Conservatory Concerts for the rest of the 1943-1944 season. In September 1944, he resumed his teaching duties and devoted himself fully to teaching the organ and piano until his retirement in 1949. As a student of Guy Ropartz, Louis Thirion was often presented as a disciple of César Franck, while his musical tastes were heavily influenced by Debussy , Chabrier and later by Stravinsky. He was also very close with two Lorraine composers, Florent Schmitt from Blâmont, and the Nancy -Marie Laure Maugüé . He attended the premiere of Pelleas and repeatedly demonstrated his enthusiasm for The Rite of Spring. One of the first to make Ravel's concerto work on the ground , he spoke, until his last days, of serial music, of Boulez or Stockhausen, whose musical scores he regretted not being able to read. His work as a composer covered only a short part of his life, between 1900 and 1913. In 1906, his piano sonata won the Society of Composers Prize; in 1909, his string quartet (dedicated to Florent Schmitt) was given in first hearing at the National Society, while his piano trio earned him a new award from the Society of Composers. His works were performed by great performers: Georges Enesco , Ricardo Viñes , Marguerite Long , Yvonne Astruc, Fernand Pollain, Jeanne-Marie Darré, Jean Doyen, Genevieve Joy, André Lévy, Jacques Neilz, Henriette Puig-Roget, the Pascal Quartet, the Parrenin quartet, etc. In 1909 he wrote his first symphony, which won the Cressant Prize. It was premiered in 1911 by Gabriel Pierné at the head of the Colonne Concerts. He composed three important works: a sonata for piano and violin in 1911, followed in 1912 by a sonata for cello and piano, and finally the second symphony, completed in 1913. The orchestration wasn't completed until 1919. It was premiered in 1920 at the Colonne Concerts, under the direction of Gabriel Pierné. Other conductors who later directed his symphonies include Alfred Bachelet, Eugene Bigot, Jean Clergue, and Marcel Dautremer. Unfortunately, even though Thirion's reputation grew in France and abroad, the war of 1914 impacted it severely: he was mobilized during the entire war; moreover, his house in Baccarat burned in the city fire caused by the Germans, resulting in the loss of almost all his manuscripts. He lost his wife in 1920 and ended up with two young dependent children. His health strongly shaken, completely discouraged, he then decided not to continue as a composer. In 1958, he was elected the only corresponding member of the Institut de France. There he joined Florent Schmitt who had proposed his candidacy, as well as Henri Büsser, Paul Paray, Jacques Ibert and Louis Aubert. From a first marriage, Louis Thirion had two children, including the writer and surrealist André Thirion . A late remarriage with pianist Micheline Moris-Thirion, resulted in a son, Louis-Claude Thirion, also a pianist.