Renée Chemet

Renée Chemet (January 9, 1887 – January 2, 1977) was a French violinist.

Renée Chemet
Renée Chemet standing at a microphone, from the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Born
Renée Henriette Joséphine Chemet

(1887-01-09)January 9, 1887
Boulogne-sur-Seine
DiedJanuary 2, 1977(1977-01-02) (aged 89)
Paris
NationalityFrench
Other namesRenée Chemet-Decreus (after marriage)
Occupationviolinist
SpouseCamille Decreus

Early life

Renée Henriette Joséphine Chemet was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine. She studied with Henri Berthelier at the Conservatoire de Paris, graduating in 1902.[1]

Career

Chemet toured the world as a violinist for decades, playing a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. In 1904, still a teenager, she was a soloist at the Proms concerts in London, under conductor Henry Wood.[1] In 1907, she toured North America as a violinist with her husband, pianist Camille Decreus, in the company of Emma Calvé.[2][3] "Madame Chemet is a violinist of great talent", explained a reviewer who heard her in Hamburg in 1911, "with great skill, splendid technique, and big (rather manly) tone. Her style of playing is eminently French; she sometimes overdoes it by forcing sentiment and cantilène."[4]

During World War I, when travel was difficult, she gave benefit concerts and performed for the troops in France, and worked as a nurse's aide; she was awarded the Legion of Honour for her service.[5]

After the war, Chemet was a soloist in Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Glasgow in 1920.[6] In the latter half of 1920, Chemet gave a number of joint recitals with the Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing.[7] In New York, she played at Carnegie Hall in 1921, at Aeolian Hall in 1923,[8] Town Hall in 1927,[9] and at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1925 and 1928.[10][11] Throughout the 1920s, she made many recordings,[12][13] and appeared regularly on radio. "Radio paves the way," she told a New York Times interviewer in 1930. "It popularizes tunes, the great symphony orchestras, the talented singers and instrumental soloists that would be ignored without this medium."[14] She played Maud Powell's violin[15] on the radio in New York in 1925.[16][17]

Chemet traveled through Hawaii to Japan in 1932, to perform with pianist Anca Seidlova and koto player Michio Miyagi.[18][19][20] Later that year, she performed with the BBC Orchestra.[21]

Personal life

Chemet married fellow French musician Camille Decreus in 1906.[22] He died in 1939. She died in 1977, at age 89, in Paris.

References
  1. E. Windust, "Renee Chemet-Decreus" The Strad (July 1909): 130-131.
  2. "The Calve Concert Sale" Town Talk (November 30, 1907): 23.
  3. "Program for Calve Concert" The Leavenworth Times (November 2, 1907): 8. via Newspapers.com
  4. "Music in Hamburg" The Strad (December 1911): 295.
  5. "Celebrated Violinist is in America" Carry On (February 1926): 6.
  6. "Music in the Provinces" The Musical Times (March 1, 1920): 196-208.
  7. “Mme. Chemet’s Violin Playing.” London Times, 16 Jul, 1920.
  8. Richard Aldrich, "Renee Chemet's Recital" New York Times (November 23, 1923): 21. via ProQuest
  9. "Violin Recital by Chemet" New York Times (December 6, 1927): 25. via ProQuest
  10. "Renee Chemet in Concert" New York Times (December 14, 1925): 19. via ProQuest
  11. "Renee Chemet in Opera Concert" New York Times (December 24, 1928): 18. via ProQuest
  12. Renée Chemet, Discography of American Historical Recordings.
  13. "Three Celebrated Pianists and Famous Violinist Added to Roster of Chickering Artists' Department" Music Trades (December 29, 1923): 16.
  14. "An Artist Reveals a Love for Radio" New York Times (March 9, 19300: 155. via ProQuest
  15. "Noted Baritone and Violinist to Broadcast on Thursday" New York Times (February 8, 1925): XX15. via ProQuest
  16. Peter Tschmuck, Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry (Springer Science and Business Media 2006): 55. ISBN 9781402042744
  17. 'The Microphone will Present" New York Times (April 20, 1930): 116. via ProQuest
  18. "Madame Chemet is Planning Concert Here This Summer" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (March 29, 1932): 38. via Newspapers.com
  19. Miyagi Michio, International Shakuhachi Society.
  20. Ena Kajino, "A Lost Opportunity for Tradition: The Violin in Early Twentieth-Century Japanese Traditional Music" Nineteenth-Century Music Review 10(2)(December 2013): 293-321.
  21. G. A. H., "An Orchestra Concert" The Guardian (November 7, 1932): 10. via Newspapers.com
  22. "Music in Paris" Musical Courier (June 5, 1907): 11.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Renée Chemet.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.