Description

MAURICE MARÉCHAL (DIJON, FRANCE 3 OCTOBER 1892 – PARIS, FRANCE 19 APRIL 1964)

Maurice Maréchal was born in Dijon at the home of his parents, Jules Jacques Maréchal, an employee for Posts and Telegraphs, and Martha Justine Morier. After studying at the conservatory in his hometown, in 1905 he entered the Paris Conservatory where he won his first cello award in 1911. Three years later, France entered World War I, and Maréchal was drafted. He recorded his daily routine from August 1914 to February 1919 in his diaries, and recounted how two carpenter comrades carved him a rudimentary wooden cello from an ammunition box, with which he played for religious services and for officers. While in the service he met other musicians, including Gustave Cloëz, Lucien Durosoir, André Caplet and Henri Lemoine, and formed with them a small ensemble that performed before the officer staff. Maréchal was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1916, and was an Officer of the Legion of Honour. After the war, he joined the Concerts Lamoureux in 1919 for one year, and later the New York Orchestra. He then began a solo career. His friend Émile Poillot accompanied him on the piano during tours in Spain (1925 and 1926), France (1928), Singapore (1933) and the Dutch Indies (1933). In 1942 he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, a post he left a year before his death in 1964, at the age of 72. Among his pupils were Christine Walevska, Alain Lambert, Jean Moves and Alain Meunier. He was known for his interpretations of such works as the Sonata for Violin and Cello by Maurice Ravel, in which he was the cellist in the sonata’s premiere in 1922, along with violinist Hélène Jourdan-Morhange. He also was known for his interpretations of Épiphanie by André Caplet, and the concertos of Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and Édouard Lalo. Maréchal’s career was again interrupted by war. When the Germans occupied France in 1940, Maréchal supported the Resistance. He also steadfastly refused all offers to play in Germany, or even on the German-dominated French radio program concerts. After the war when he resumed his career he was stricken with a progressive muscular disease that took the strength from his bowing arm. He gave his last concerts in 1950, and spent the rest of his life teaching and appearing on international juries. Maréchal was married to the former Lois Perkins of Norwich, CT, USA, an actress. They met in 1920 in France while Lois worked as a volunteer canteen worker with the American Expeditionary Force. They had a daughter, Denise, and a son. Maréchal died Sunday, April 19, 1964, at his home in Paris following a kidney operation. His funeral took place in the Cathedral of St. Benignus, Dijon, on April 22. He is buried in the cemetery of Péjoces in Dijon.

TRACKLIST

1. Les surprises de l’amour (Rameau) with Henriette Roget, piano Columbia LFX694, LFX694, CLX 2452, CLX 2453 1946-05-29
2. Pièce en forme de habanera (Ravel) with Maurice Fauré, piano Columbia D13101 WL 1288 1928-11-05
3. Sérénade (Gounod) withHerbin, piano Columbia CL 6299 1937-07-15
4. Träumerei (Schumann) with Yolande Kornhold, piano Columbia J 5542 CL5835 A
5. Liebesträume No. 3 ‘O Lieb, so lang’, S541 (Liszt) with Maurice Faure, piano Columbia LFX319 CLX 1701 1933-05-01
6. Le Cygne (Saint-Saëns) with Maxim Shapiro, piano Columbia J 5482 200839
7. Goyescas (Granados) Intermezzo Columbia J8719 M55179 1937
8. Cortege d Egnel (Rameau) with Henriette Roget, piano Columbia LFX641, LFX641, CLX 2345, CLX 2346
9. Peer Gynt – Solvieg’s Song (Grieg) with Yolande Kornhold, piano Columbia LF150 CL 5838 1936-07-17
10. Après un rêve, op. 7, no. 1 (Fauré) with Jean Doyen, piano Columbia D13108 WL 1778 1929-06-26
11. Concerto in A major – Largo mesto (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach) with Jean Doyen, piano Columbia D15222 WLX 1091 1929-06-26
12. Sonata No. 6, In A Major (Boccherini) Adagio Part I and Part II with Maurice Faure, piano Columbia LFX326, LFX326, CLX 1703, WLX 1646 1932-12-12
13. Nocturne, op. 9, no. 2 (Chopin) with Maurice Faure, piano Columbia LFX319 CLX 1702 1933-05-01
14. 7 Canciones Populares Españolas No. 1 – El Paño Moruno (Falla) Columbia D15174
15. 7 Canciones Populares Españolas No. 3 – Asturiana (Falla) Columbia D15174
16. 7 Canciones Populares Españolas No. 5 – Nana (Falla) Columbia D15174
17. 7 Canciones Populares Españolas No. 4 – Jota (Falla) Columbia D15174
18. Les Érinnyes (Massenet) acte I. Divertissement II. la Troyenne regrettant la patrie perdue with Louis Gaudard (hautbois) Columbia DFX 92 LX 1526 1931
19. Les Érinnyes (Massenet) acte II. Scène religieuse Columbia DFX 92 LX 1527
20. Elégie (Fauré) with Maurice Fauré, piano Columbia D15176 WLX 603