Albert Wolff (conductor)

He made his conducting debut at an opera gala in Strasbourg (then under German control) on 9 May 1909, following this by getting as much experience as possible with many short engagements in all operatic genres around France.

[1] Impressed with his performance, the Opéra-Comique took him with them to Argentina in 1911 where he conducted the Buenos Aires premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatro Colón.

[3] In August 1910 Wolff conducted Fauré's incidental music in Georgette Leblanc's production of the play Pelléas and Mélisande in the cloisters and gardens of Saint-Wandrille abbey.

Throughout that conflict, Wolff served his country first as at Les Éparges, then as a pilot (including a tour of Morocco), and was decorated for his courage.

At the end of the War, Wolff went to the United States to join the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera, replacing Pierre Monteux in the French repertoire.

Although Wolff's work with the company received consistently positive reviews from critics, he spent less than two full seasons at the Metropolitan Opera.

[1] Wolff returned to the Opéra-Comique in 1921, succeeding André Messager as chief conductor, a position he held for the next three years.

[1] He notably conducted the first Paris performances of L'enfant et les sortileges and Angélique by Ibert, and the world premiere of Le brebis égarée (1923) by Milhaud.

With the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, his discography included Adam's Giselle (complete) and Glazunov's The Seasons, overtures by Berlioz, Auber, Hérold, Suppé, Nicolai and Řezníček, orchestral works by Falla, Ravel, Lalo and Franck, Gustave Charpentier's Impressions d'Italie and Massenet's Scènes Pittoresques and Scènes Alsaciennes.