Paul Paray
[2] Auguste's principal occupation was as an ivory sculptor, but he was also a working musician – organist of the church of Saint-Jacques au Tréport and musical director of the town’s municipal band and theatre.
[5] After compulsory military service, not far from his home, in an infantry regiment in Dieppe, he accepted in 1909 the position of piano accompanist in the Parisian Cabaret des Quat'z'Arts an establishment directed by Gabriel Montoya.
[3] He refused any musical collaboration with the Germans and he had no instrument, except for the modest harmonium he played on Sundays, to accompany the two religious services for Catholic and Protestant prisoners.
[8] After his release, Paray conducted professionally for the first time at the Casino in Cauterets, and shortly afterwards, on Pierné's recommendation, he made his début with the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris[3] and was appointed its assistant conductor in 1920.
[3][10] They also performed with several well-known solo players who were making their Paris débuts, including Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein and Yehudi Menuhin.
[3] In 1928 Paray accepted the post of chief conductor of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and in the summer months he was also musical director at the Vichy Casino.
He also worked at the Paris Opéra, where he conducted several operas by Wagner, including Die Walküre, Siegfried and Tristan und Isolde.
[11] While with the Colonne Orchestra, Paray engaged in a celebrated dispute with the music critic Émile Vuillermoz, who complained in print in 1935 about what he saw as the frequent inadequacy of the performances of new works at symphony concerts.
He made a sufficiently strong impression to be offered the post of co-conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra with Toscanini, but chose to return to France, just as the Second World War was about to start.
[3] The Colonne and Lamoureux Orchestras had merged to form a single ensemble, and Paray agreed to share its musical direction jointly with Eugène Bigot.
In Detroit – and also in Pittsburgh, New York and Philadelphia, where he was regularly invited – Paray took satisfaction in conducting, along with mainstream classical works, music by American and Canadian composers including Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem and Walter Piston.
[8] In October 1956 he conducted the inaugural concert at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, in a programme that included his own Mass for the 550th Anniversary of Joan of Arc.
[1] The British magazine Gramophone, reviewing the release of his Mercury recordings on 45 CDs, classed him as a great conductor and said that he created a magnificent ensemble during his ten years as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's music director.
His awards included a doctorate of law from Wayne University, the City Medal from Tel Aviv, and honorary citizenships of Detroit, Diemeringen, Le Tréport and Monaco.
