Antoine Simon,commonly known asAnton Simon(Russian:Антон Юльевич Симон) (5 August 1850 – 1 February [O.S.19 January] 1916), was a French composer, director and pianist, who made most of his career in Russia.
Biography
editBorn in Paris, Antoine Simon studied atConservatoire de Parisin the piano class ofAntoine François Marmonteland the composition class ofJules Duprato.
Aged 21, Antoine Simon left for Moscow where he settled permanently. He was hired as a composer (Kapellmeister) for the Théâtre des Bouffes in Moscow and taught the piano for musical classes of the Philharmonic Society of Moscow. In 1897, he was appointed inspector of orchestras of the imperial theaters.
Work
editAntoine Simon was one of the few composers in Russia at the time to create works for wind instruments such as the quartet-like sonata Op. 23 for twocornets,hornandtrombone,or his twenty-two small pieces for ensemble, Op. 26, composed in 1887.[1]Simon also composed three operas and a number of piano pieces. His Piano Concerto inA major,Op. 19 met with some success, as did his Clarinet Concerto, Op. 31 and hisFantaisie concertantefor cello and orchestra, Op. 42. He also composed a Piano Trio inD minor,Op. 16, a String Quartet in A major, Op. 24, etc.
Simon also composed orchestrations for theballetDon QuixotebyLudwig Minkus,in particular for theDanse de Mercedesand severalvariations,such as that of thedryadsin the dream tableau. Antoine Simon composed his own compositions for ballet as well, likeLa Fille de Gudule,whosechoreographywas byAlexander Alexeyevich Gorsky,Les Étoiles(1898) by Khlioustine,Les Fleurs vivantes(1899), performed atBolshoi Theatre.
Simon died in Moscow. His archives are kept inGlinka Museumin Moscow.
Collaboration with Gorski
editAntoine Simon collaborated with the talented Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky from the arrival of the latter in Moscow. They began working on Gorsky's version ofDon Quixoteby Minkus. Antoine Simon worked some variations, and especially composed various dances. The première took place 6 December 1900 at Bolshoi[2]under the nameL'Espagnol(the Spaniard).
By the end of 1901, they started working onLa Fille de Gudule,ballet inspired by Victor Hugo'sThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame.This theme was not new in the field of dance, since it was also that ofLa EsmeraldabyJules Perrot.However, Simon's ballet differed from the latter because the focus was on mass scenes: real crowds moved in front of the audience, in a show of four acts and nine tableaux.
Gorski has carefully prepared for this work; he also went to Paris in order to assimilate the locations of the plot of this ballet which premiered 24 November 1902 at Bolshoi, on a music by Simon, theatrical scenery byKonstantin Korovinand costumes byAleksander Golovin.Heinrich Arends ( "Arends Andrei Fedorovich" in Russian) directed the orchestra. The performers were:
- Esmeralda:E. Grimaldi (then S.F. Fiodorova)
- Claude Frollo:Vassili Helzer
- Captain Phoebus:N. Mordkine
- Quasimodo:N.P. Domachov
- Gringoire: K.A. Beck
- Gudule: M.A. Drougachtcheva
References
edit- ^For four to seven instruments.
- ^Theatrical scenerybyKonstantin Korovin,costumes byAleksandr Golovinand musical direction by Heinrich Arends
External links
edit- Spencer, Jennifer (2001). "Simon, Anton (Yul′yevich)".Grove Music Online(8th ed.).Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.25818.ISBN978-1-56159-263-0.
- Musical archives of the Glinka Museum
