Ansermet, Ernest (EN)

Ansermet Ernest, *11 November 1883 Vevey, †20 February 1969 Geneva, Swiss conductor, composer and music theorist. He studied mathematics at the University of Lausanne and taught at a secondary school from 1903 to 1912. He studied music under A. Denéreáz in Lausanne, O. Barblan and E. Bloch in Geneva, A. Gédalge in Paris, F.J. Mottl in Munich and A. Nikisch in Berlin. Between 1912 and 1914, he conducted the popular Kursaal-Konzerte in Montreux, and between 1915 and 1918, he conducted symphony concerts in Lausanne as the successor to B. Stavenhagen. Thanks to I. Stravinsky, he was appointed musical director of S. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, with which he toured Europe, North America and South America between 1918 and 1923. In 1918, he founded the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva and performed with it until 1968. He conducted guest performances with leading symphony and opera orchestras in Europe and the USA. He specialised in the performance of contemporary music; he was particularly valued as a promoter and first performer of Stravinsky’s works (among others, in 1918 he conducted Tale of the Soldier in Lausanne, and in 1948 he conducted the Mass for choir and 10 brass instruments at La Scala in Milan) and as an performer of works by Debussy, Ravel, Martinů, Honegger, Hindemith, Bartók, de Falla and Prokofiev. He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Neuchâtel and Lausanne. He made numerous recordings (mainly of Stravinsky’s works) for Decca and HMV.

Ansermet’s compositional output includes orchestral works, the symphonic poem Feuilles au printemps, piano pieces and numerous orchestral transcriptions, including Debussy’s 6 épigraphes antiques, J. Aquirre’s 2 danses argentines, and songs.

Literature: B. Gavoty, J. Mohr Ernest Ansermet, «Die grossen Interpreten», Geneva 1961.