Northern France

House of the composer Albéric Magnard (1865-1914). He was killed in September 1914 during an exchange of fire; after having shot down two German soldiers who had entered his estate, the Germans shot back and set the house on fire. After the war, the French government restored the house, but valuable manuscripts of unpublished works were lost. Magnard’s symphonies and chamber music are still worth hearing.

The writer and composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau died here in 1778; he stayed with the marquis de Girardin, enjoying the scenery around the park and giving music lessons to the children of his host. He was buried at the Île des Peupliers, an island in the lake (monument). In 1794 his mortal remains were moved to the Panthéon in Paris.

In the historical town of Senlis, this Romanesque chapel (10^th c.) was restored through the efforts of the pianist György Cziffra and in 1974 reopened as Franz Liszt Auditorium for concerts and exhibitions.

The Mozart family stayed here on 16/17.XI.1763.

In this beautiful cathedral , around 1140, students performed the Jeu de Daniel, one of the most famous medieval liturgical dramas which have survived.

The organ of Amiens cathedral has traces from six centuries. The case was made in 1420 and altered in 1549, 1623 and 1766, but its Gothic descent is still visible. In 1889 the instrument was made by Cavaillé-Coll and seven stops were added in the 20^th century. Present disposition is III/p/58, but the need for a restoration is urgent.

At this war cemetery is the grave of the English composer George Butterworth (1885-1916), who died in the battlefield of Pozières (3km SE) at the same young age as Schubert and Grigny... The trench he bravely defended was later officially named ‘Butterworth trench’.

The organ by Charles Dallery is from 1756. The magnificent case is a creation of the furniture maker Pfaffenhofen. The original disposition of II/p/22 was extended into III/p/33 in 1845. After the last restoration in 1995 it was inaugurated by Marie-Claire Alain; her father Albert had saved the instrument from ruin.

Monument of the composer Jean-François LeSueur (1760-1837), who was born in nearby Drucat-Plessiel. LeSueur was one of the leading composers in revolutionary France and the teacher of Berlioz. The new monument from 1950 is less popular among the inhabitants than the former bronze one from 1852, which was melted down into arms by the Nazis.

The city of Arras was an important music centre, especially between c 1300 and 1450, when a brotherhood of jongleurs and many trouvères were active. The most prominent person was Adam de la Halle, the only trouvère who also composed polyphonic works and the creator of the charming musical play Jeu de Robin et de Marion.

The organist and composer Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911) was born in Boulogne. Giacomo Meyerbeer, taking a cure here, received Richard Wagner in 1839 and offered him financial help and professional assistance; the young composer didn’t show much gratitude afterwards.

Birthplace of the opera composer Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (1729-1817). A bust of his is in the wedding room of the town hall. Outside the centre, on the way to Coyecques, a stainless steel double-bass can be seen; it was erected in 2013 to pay homage to Monsigny – he may have played double-bass.

The greatest French composer of late renaissance organ music, Jehan Titelouze (1562/3-1633), was born in Saint-Omer. The organ in the old cathedral is of later date. The large concave case was made by the Piette family in 1717; the original interior by Desfontaines was replaced by Cavaillé-Coll in 1855 and later extended into IV/p/50.

Organ case by Gérard Sibriecque from 1633; the maker of the instrumental part is not known. Built for the Cistercian abbey of Clairmarais and moved here in 1793. III/p/31.

The great composer Josquin Desprez (c 1440-1521) lived from 1503 as a canon in Condé. His grave is not extant, nor any other trace of his presence. The sixth anniversary of his death in 2021 will give occasion to a three days festival in September and – who knows – to a more enduring memorial (plaque or monument), which is lacking so far.

The Franco-Flemish renaissance music can be regarded as a fusion of French polyphony, Italian melody and English consonance. The first composer who brought these elements together into a great corpus of sacred and secular music was Guillaume Dufay (1397/98-1474). He may have been born in Cambrai, but he spent for certain most of the second half of his life here, in the rue de l’Écu d’Or – next to his colleague, the composer Nicolas Grenon. Johannes Ockeghem stayed with Dufay in 1464. He was buried in the St Stephan’s chapel of the former Cambrai cathedral; after its destruction during the revolution, the tombstone landed in a museum in Lille.

The street name to his honour exists since 1974.

Of two events from the musical history of Lille, no tangible traces could be found:

The composer Gabriel Grovlez (1879-1941) was born in Lille.

Berlioz stayed in Lille in 1846 and composed the cantate Le chant des chemins de fer for the inauguration of the north railway.

In the basement of this excellent museum are exhibits of Lille’s glorious past, including the tombstone of Guillaume Dufay, made under his supervision – with the date of his death not filled in. Originally it was situated in the later destroyed cathedral of Cambrai.

The opera theatre was built in 1907-13 in Louis XVI style and is also a venue for classical concerts; 1500 seats. Its predecessors from 1697, 1702 and 1789, all with a well attended opera life, don’t exist anymore.

A monument for a song! It refers to a lullaby Le P’tit Quinquin by A. Desrousseaux, which sounds hourly from the carillon of the Nouvelle Bourse, next to the Opéra.

Large concert hall with 2000 seats from the 1960s. Platform of the National Orchestra of Lille; conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus, it also used to appear in factories and sports halls, bringing culture to impoverished quarters.

Birthplace of the composer Edouard Lalo (1823-1892). His cello concerto and the Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra are still popular, but his masterwork is the opera Le roi d’Ys.

Monument of the composer Edouard Lalo from 2002. The first monument from 1922 was stolen in 1942.

Birthplace of the composer Albert Roussel, born in 1869. He stayed here only shortly; after the death of his father in 1870, the widow with her family moved to the following address.

The composer Albert Roussel (1869-1937) spent his youth until 1884 in the house of his grandfather Charles Roussel, the mayor of Tourcoing. He developed a twofold ambition, toward a musical and a maritime career; he would succeed in both.

Today, this house is the local museum of fine arts.

This tower of a medieval Benedictine monastery houses a carillon of 48 bells by Eysbouts (1989). It can be heard – daily at noon – and visited. The exhibition includes older bells and ceramics. A plaque honours former players.

Birthplace of Etienne-Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817), a composer of opéras comiques, symphonies and revolutionary music; his Chant du depart from 1794 was nearly as popular as the Marseillaise, especially during the revolutions of 1830, 1848 and 1871.

Statue of the composer Etienne-Nicolas Méhul.

Possible birthplace of the poet and greatest composer of medieval France, Guillaume de Machaut (c 1300-1377), but also Reims can have been his birthplace. Machaut composed over 100 songs following the trouvére tradition, 23 polyphonic motets and a monumental mass, Messe de Notre Dame.

Machaut lived in Reims from 1340 until his death in 1377, but also during earlier years, while being educated and acting in the service of various kings and noblemen, the town may have been a kind of home base. He was buried in the cathedral.

Reims cathedral was the venue of the coronations of the French kings. The present organ, IV/p/87, is in a case which goes back to 1487; an urgent restoration will be finished in 2024. The most renowned organist was Nicolas de Grigny, from 1697 to 1703.

The organist and composer Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) was born in Reims. He worked in three churches: the cathedral, Saint Symphorien and Saint Michel; he was buried in the latter, but that church was largely destroyed during the first Word War. In spite of his short life, Grigny was internationally renowned; Bach made a copy of his entire Livre d’orgue.

Five medieval sculptures of musicians are exposed in this museum: players of fife-and-drum, bagpipe, fiddle and harp, and a falconer who may represent a singer. They adorned the façade of the so-called Maison des musiciens [musicians’ house] at 20 rue du Tambour. There are plans to reconstruct the façade at the original address, which was destroyed in the war.

The opera in neo-classical style was opened in 1873. The building was damaged in 1914 and rebuilt in 1931 with an art deco interior.

Birthplace of François Devienne (1759-1803), a flutist and composer of gallant flute music and bassoon concertos; the rest of his oeuvre is scarcely known.

Nicolas Chopin, the father of the composer, was born in Marainville in 1771. He became a teacher in the retinue of Stanislaus Leszczinski, the former Polish king and then duke of Lorraine, and moved to Poland. On his birthplace, demolished in 1982, was a bilingual plaque which found a place at the cemetery. The fresco at the water tower just outside the village is another memorial. Frédéric himself, not inclined to underline his half-French descent, never visited his two aunts in Marainville.

Mirecourt was a leading centre of violin and bow making in the 18^th century, like Cremona in Italy and Mittenwald in Germany. The exhibition includes instruments, bows, utensils and documentation.

Training institute for violin and bow making, established in 2003 and linked with the Lycée Jean-Baptiste Vuilaume, a secondary school named after Mirecourt’s most renowned violin maker (1798-1875).

Collection of mechanical instruments, such as pianolas, barrel organs and serinettes. Another department of the museum is devoted to lace.

Hector Berlioz cured in Plombières in 1856 and ‘57 and worked at his magnum opus Les Troyens. His residence is not extant, but his portrait has been sculptured at the Fontaine Stanislas outside the town. In a long article for the Journal des Débats and in two letters (30.VIII.’56 and 4.VIII.’57), the composer reports extensively about his stays in Plombières.

Birthplace of the composer Florent Schmitt (1870-1958). His best known work is the colourful and vehement Tragédie de Salomé from 1907, in which Debussy and Richard Strauss seem to shake hands.

The composer Henry Desmarets (1661-1741) was master of music from 1707 at the court of Léopold, duke of Lorraine, who had the palace built in 1702. It was called Petit Versailles because of the grandeur of its appearence and festivities. A great fire in 2003 damaged the palace severely; efforts to regain the entire former splendour will be in vain. Desmarets died in Lunéville and was buried in a monastery which was destroyed during the revolution.

The opera of Lorraine was opened in 1919, after its predecessor of 1758 was destroyed by fire in 1906. It has 1050 seats and offers opera, ballet and concerts. The classical building was designed by Joseph Hornecker.

Organ by the Parisian makers Merklin & Schutze in 1867. At first it was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris before being installed in Nancy and inaugurated in 1869 with a recital by Anton Bruckner. It has mechanical traction and its disposition is III/p/44. The church also has the disposal of a choir organ by Merklin from 1872; II/p/11.

The conservatory was established in 1886 as an annex of the Paris Conservatoire; it became independent in 1968 and occupies the actual building, a former tobacco factory, since 1987. The Breton composer Joseph Guy-Ropartz was its director from 1894 to 1919 and is honoured by a bust.

Montmédy is the birthplace of the harpist and composer Robert-Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789-1856). He was of great importance for the development of harp music, but also had a notorious reputation as an adventurer, falsifier, thief and bigamist. He lived in Paris, London, Naples and Mexico and finally landed in Australia. Such a biography deserves a movie or opera!

The tourist office of Montmédy sells two books about Bochsa; no futher tactile traces.

Birthplace of the composer Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956 – not related to Marc-Antoine C.) in the house of his grand-parents at 19 rue du Moulin. The street was later named after him (the numbering may have changed). In 1870 the family moved to Tourcoing where the young Gustave worked in a spinning mill and founded a musical society. Later in Paris he composed the opera Louise (1896), his best known work.

Metz has the oldest opera house in France which is still active. It was built between 1736 and 1752 after the design of Jacques Oger and is situated on an island. It has 750 seats.

The concert hall of Metz was built in 1989 in a basement under the former Arsenal Ney from 1859; the architect was Ricardo Bofill. It has a large hall with 1500 seats and one with 350 seats (Esplanade). Gregorian chant is sometimes performed in an adjacent Roman basilica from the 4^th century (Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains).

Birthplace of the composer Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896). His conventional operas were acclaimed in his days but less nowadays; Hamlet (1868) is sometimes performed and only Mignon (1866) is still a popular work.

Birthplace of the composer, organist and conductor Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937). With such different teachers as Franck and Massenet and with his experience as a conductor, he absorbed that great variety of music which found its reflexion in his compositions.

The composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755) was born at this place, then called place du Marché, but the exact address couldn’t be tracked down.

The parsonage of Baldenheim is the birthplace of the theologian and composer Victor Neßler (1841-1890), whose opera Der Trompeter von Säckingen (1884) became immensely popular in Germany.

His monument is nearby, at place Gisselbrecht. (Another monument one can find in... Säckingen, Germany.)

Organ by Andreas Silbermann from 1709, III/p/28. The church interior is profusely baroque, rather unusual in these parts.

Organ by Andreas Silbermann from 1732, II/p/20. His son Johann Andreas extended it in 1746 into III/p/27 and today there are 31 stops. Concerts are given in July and August.

This museum is in a barn of a former abbey. It consists of an interactive exhibition about history and working of the organ and a display of the Tripp collection of flutes, since 1994.

The composer and piano maker Ignace Pleyel (1757-1831) worked in Strasbourg from 1782 to 1793 and rented in 1792 this wine castle of the counts of Andlau, who are still the occupants.

Strasbourg/Straßburg was a German city until 1681 and also between 1871 and 1918. Musical personalities without tangible traces include Gottfried von Straßburg, the creator of Tristan and Isolde (c 1210}; Emil Waldteufel, the composer of the waltz Les Patineurs, born in 1837; and Hans Pfitzner, who worked as conductor and as director of the conservatory from 1907 to 1919, succeeded by Guy-Ropartz.

František Xaver Richter worked here from 1769 until 1783, his successor was Ignace Pleyel, until 1793.

The organ wa built in 1489 by Friedrich Krebs, but the instrumental part was newly built in 1716 by Andreas Silbermann. Only a few parts of this organ returned in the present instrument from 1981 by Alfred Kern; III/p/47. The gothic organ case from 1489 is still a unique piece of art.

The organ by Joh. Andreas Silbermann from 1761 was played by Mozart in 1778 and Albert Schweitzer gave organ recitals at the beginning of the 20^th century. The instrument was spoiled during a renovation in 1927 but the damage was partly undone in 1979; III/p/38.

The opera was built between 1804 and 1821, damaged in 1870 ad restored in 1880. There are 1100 seats. The ‘National Opera of the Rhine’ is a cooperation of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse.

Concert venue of the Strasbourg PO. Three halls with resp. 1876, 1182 and 515 seats. The first design was by the architect Le Corbusier, but following his death in 1975, the municipal service of architecture took over the task.

The conservatory goes back to 1855 and occupied various buildings, including the famous Aubette. The present site was opened in 2006 after the design of Henri Gaudin. It has a concert hall and a theatre.

House of the violinist Jean Becker, with whom Hector Berlioz stayed in 1863; he visited the town on the occasion of a successful performance of L’Enfance du Christ.

Across this street, at nr 126, was the establishment Au grand Agneau d’Or, where Rouget de Lisle wrote the Marseillaise.

This museum displays some objects of musical interest. Three panels of the Isenheimer Altar by Matthias Grünewald inspired Paul Hindemith to the three parts of his symphony Mathis der Maler – Angels’ concert, Burial, Temptation of St Anthony; at the right of the Angels’ concert is a rare image of Rupertsberg monastery, the creation of the composing nun Hildegard von Bingen. In addition, the museum possesses some instruments, including a Ruckers harpsichord from the estate of Marquis de Sade.

This 16^th century house was the birthplace of the pianist Marie Bigot de Morogues (1786-1820) who was admired by Haydn and Beethoven and was the teacher of the young Mendelssohn during his stay in Paris in 1816.

Birthplace of the theologian, physician and organist Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965).

House of Albert Schweitzer from 1928. It was his European pied-à-terre when working in his leprosy hospital in Lambarene, Gabon. From here he organised his concerts for the benefit of his African project.

In 1932 he had an organ installed in the church, in the parsonage of which he had spent his childhood.

Birthplace of Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (1821-1910), a collector of folk songs and composer of folk like songs and choirs. He was a friend of César Franck.

Grave of Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin, next to that of his brother Victor-Martin, a painter who died in 1909; palette and lyre!

Built in 1993 after the design of Claude Vasconi on the premises of a cotton factory (hence its name). Venue for the Mulhouse SO and the National opera of the Rhine, in cooperation with Strasbourg and Colmar.

At this war cemetery is the grave of the English composer George Butterworth (1885-1916), who died in the battlefield of Pozières (3km SE) at the same young age as Schubert and Grigny... The trench he bravely defended was later officially named ‘Butterworth trench’.

The opera of Lorraine was opened in 1919, after its predecessor of 1758 was destroyed by fire in 1906. It has 1050 seats and offers opera, ballet and concerts. The classical building was designed by Joseph Hornecker.

Built in 1993 after the design of Claude Vasconi on the premises of a cotton factory (hence its name). Venue for the Mulhouse SO and the National opera of the Rhine, in cooperation with Strasbourg and Colmar.

The great composer Josquin Desprez (c 1440-1521) lived from 1503 as a canon in Condé. His grave is not extant, nor any other trace of his presence. The sixth anniversary of his death in 2021 will give occasion to a three days festival in September and – who knows – to a more enduring memorial (plaque or monument), which is lacking so far.