Pasdeloup, Jules-Étienne
Pasdeloup, Jules-Étienne
Pasdeloup, Jules-Étienne , famous French conductor; b. Paris, Sept. 15, 1819; d. Fontainebleau, Aug. 13, 1887. He studied piano with Laurent and Zimmerman at the Paris Cons., winning premiers prix for solfège (1832) and piano (1834), and then was on its faculty (1841–68). He organized the Société des Jeunes Artistes’ sym. concerts in Paris, where he conducted for the first time on Feb. 20,1853; these became the Société des Jeunes Artistes du Conservatoire Imperial de Musique concerts, which he conducted from 1856 to 1865. He founded the Concerts Populaires de Musique Classique, conducting its first concert on Oct. 27, 1861, and with it championed the works of the great masters as well as those by contemporary French composers. He also founded the Société des Oratorios (1868), and was a conductor at the Théâtre-Lyrique (1868–70). His Concerts Populaires gradually lost ground in competition with the concerts of Colonne and Lamoureux, and were abandoned in 1884; they were revived in 1886–87. A grand popular music festival at the Trocadero (1884), instituted for his benefit, netted him nearly 100,000 francs.