Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] 83

Frémaux, Louis (Joseph Felix)

(b Aire-sur-Lys, Pas de Calais, 13 Aug 1921). French conductor. His studies at Valenciennes Conservatoire were interrupted by the war, in which he served with the Resistance in France and with the Foreign Legion in East Asia (1945–7), being twice decorated with the Croix de Guerre. He resumed musical studies in 1949 at the Paris Conservatoire, including conducting with Louis Fourestier, and in 1952 won a premier prix for conducting. His début the following year led to his appointment as musical director of the Monte Carlo opera orchestra (1956–65). He introduced concerts at the Monaco Royal Palace from 1959, and made a number of award-winning recordings with this and other orchestras. After his first concerts in Britain and Japan in 1968 he became musical director of the Rhône-Alpes PO at Lyons (1969–71). He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1969, the year he became music director of the CBSO where (until 1978) he developed both the spirit and the style of its performances, and achieved its wider recognition on a tour of eastern Europe in 1972. His recordings with the CBSO, mainly of French music, include an impressive account of Berlioz’s Requiem with the CBSO Chorus he founded in 1974, Fauré’s Requiem and music by Ibert, Poulenc and Satie. After leaving the CBSO Frémaux was principal conductor of the Sydney SO, 1979–81, and principal guest conductor, 1981–5. His performances were frequently distinguished by freshness, suppleness and, in the French repertory, an airy brilliance.

NOËL GOODWIN

Fremstad, Olive [Rundquist, Olivia]

(b Stockholm, 14 March 1871; d Irvington-on-Hudson, NY, 21 April 1951). American mezzo-soprano and soprano of Swedish birth. Of illegitimate birth, she was adopted by an American couple of Scandinavian origin who took her to Minnesota. She studied in New York, and later in Berlin with Lilli Lehmann. After a notable stage début as Azucena with the Cologne Opera (21 May 1895) she sang there as a mezzo for three years, during which she also appeared in minor roles in the Bayreuth Ring of 1896 and made a mark at the Vienna Opera as Brangäne. After a further period of study in Italy she joined the Munich Opera for three years, from 1900, singing a great variety of parts, among which her Carmen was specially popular. During the Covent Garden seasons of 1902 and 1903 she made a very favourable impression in various Wagner roles. On 25 November 1903 she made her Metropolitan début as Sieglinde, and remained at the house with increasing success for 11 consecutive seasons, singing under both Mahler and Toscanini in her Wagner repertory, which soon included Isolde, Brünnhilde and Kundry. She also appeared as Meyerbeer’s Selika, Carmen, Tosca, Santuzza, Salome and Gluck’s Armide; the last two roles she introduced to America. She was still at the height of her powers when disagreements with the manager, Gatti-Casazza, caused her to leave the Metropolitan after singing Elsa on 23 April 1914. This final performance provoked one of the most remarkable demonstrations of affection and admiration in the history of the house.

Her vocal qualities were transcendent; it is clear from the fascinating account given by her secretary, Mary Watkins Cushing, that her vivid temperament made her often a difficult colleague as well as an interpreter of genius. Her few recordings, made in 1911–12, are constrained and unworthy of her reputation; the best of them is ‘O don fatale’ from Don Carlos. Thea Kronberg, the heroine of Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark, is a fictional portrait of Fremstad.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

L. Migliorini and J. Dennis: ‘Olive Fremstad’, Record Collector, vii (1952), 51–65 [with discography]

M.W. Cushing: The Rainbow Bridge (New York, 1954/R1977 with discography by W.R. Moran)

DESMOND SHAWE-TAYLOR/R

French, Jacob

(b Stoughton, MA, 15 July 1754; d Simsbury, CT, May 1817). American composer, tune book compiler and singing master. In 1774 he attended a singing school taught by William Billings at Stoughton. After working as a farmer and serving in the Continental Army, he seems to have led a peripatetic life, teaching singing schools in many different New England towns between 1781 and 1815. French compiled three tune books: The New American Melody (Boston, 1789), The Psalmodist’s Companion (Worcester, MA, 1793) and Harmony of Harmony (Northampton, MA, 1802). These contain at least 96, and perhaps as many as 122, pieces by him, including about a dozen of anthem length. The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony (Worcester, MA, 1786) introduced French’s two other known works; one of these, a setting of the Revelation text ‘I beheld, and lo, a great multitude’, is his earliest and perhaps most strikingly successful anthem. Although few of French’s compositions achieved wide popularity in his time, all his music has been published (ed. D.C.L. Jones, New York, 1998). His music marks him as a composer of imagination and power, able to work on a larger scale than most of his American contemporaries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F.J. Metcalf: American Writers and Compilers of Sacred Music (New York, 1925/R), 88–9

M.C. Genuchi: The Life and Music of Jacob French (1754–1817), Colonial American Composer (diss., U. of Iowa, 1964)

RICHARD CRAWFORD/NYM COOKE

French, (William) Percy

(b Cloonyquin, Co. Roscommon, 1 May 1854; d Formby, 24 Jan 1920). Irish singer and songwriter. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin (1872–80), and had a career in engineering, but in 1890 turned to writing and performing. His shows included story-telling, humorous sketching and singing, sometimes accompanied on the banjo. He moved to London in about 1900, and performed throughout Britain as well as on the Continent and in North America. One of French’s first songs was Abdulla Bulbul Ameer (1877), which became widely popular in a pirated edition (he had failed to register the copyright). His numerous Irish comic ballads include Phil the Fluther’s Ball (1889), Slathery’s Mounted Fut (1889), Mat Hannigan’s Aunt (1892), Are ye right there, Michael? (1902) and Come back, Paddy Reilly (1912). He wrote the words to several other songs, including The Mountains o’ Mourne (1896), as well as to four musical plays which were mostly composed or arranged on traditional airs by W.A. Houston Collisson (1865–1920), a pianist with whom he frequently performed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J.N. Healy: Percy French and his Songs (Cork, 1966)

B. O'Dowda: The World of Percy French (Dundonald, 1981/R)

ANDREW LAMB