Lucien Capet
{{Short description|French violinist (1873–1928)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Lucien Capet
| image = Portrait of Lucien Capet.jpg
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_date = 8 January 1873
|birth_place ={{flagicon|FRA}} Paris, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1928|12|18|1873|1|8|df=y}}
|death_place =Paris, France
| instrument = Violin
| genre = Classical
| occupation = Pedagogue, Violinist, Composer
| years_active = 1887–1928
}}
Lucien Louis Capet (8 January 1873 – 18 December 1928) was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer.The name 'Capet' is connected with the dynasty which ruled in France from the tenth to the eighteenth century: Louis XVI was, during the French Revolution, referred to as Louis Capet.
Career
Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris where he was a pupil of Jean-Pierre Maurin and later appeared as soloist with French orchestras. Between 1896 and 1899, he was the concertmaster of the orchestra of the Concerts Lamoureux. He also taught violin at the Société Sainte-Cécile de Bordeaux (1899–1903). His notable students include Jascha Brodsky and Ivan Galamian, both of whom became influential violin teachers of the latter part of the twentieth century.
Lucien Capet had a successful career as a soloist and chamber musician, forming the Capet Quartet in 1893.[http://www.robertcasadesus.com/en15pages.php?req_lang=en&PHPSESSID=be4178629fb068fe36235932c6f059da Robert Casadesus & Lucien Capet] The quartet went through many changes of personnel and made several recordings of Beethoven string quartets and Romantic and Classical works.[http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2003/7803316/original/Bild.jpg Lucien Capet Quartet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719103340/http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2003/7803316/original/Bild.jpg |date=2011-07-19 }} Capet was also a well-regarded teacher, known especially for his bow technique.
With the violinist and chamber musician Suzanne Chaigneau, Capet founded the Institut moderne du violin in 1924.Massin B., Les Joachim – Une famille de musiciens (Paris: Fayard, 1999).
Capet wrote a book on "Superior Bowing Technique" which is an essential treatise on all aspects of bowing technique for the violin; reprints are available (including translations into English by Margaret Schmidt and Stephen Shipps, and into Persian by Mohsen Kazemian [https://www.iranketab.ir/profile/41914-mohsen-kazemian Mohsen Kazemian Books]).
Lucien Capet also worked closely with bowmaker Joseph Arthur Vigneron to develop a Lucien Capet model bow (modele Lucien Capet was often stamped on such bows). Vigneron's concept/design for these bows was a sort of rounded triangular cross section, which added stability to the bow (lower centre of gravity)."[http://www.filimonovfineviolins.com Filimonov Fine Violins]
Quotes
{{cquote|Mr. Capet is a Master performer on the violin with a wonderful technique and a warm and powerful tone.|||Alberto Bachmann, 1925.}}Encyclopedia of the Violin - Alberto Bachmann
Selected compositions
- Le Rouet, symphonic poem
- Prélude religieux, for orchestra
- Devant la mer, for voice and orchestra
- Poème, for violin and orchestra
- 5 string quartets
- 2 sonatas for violin and piano
- 6 études for violin
- Aria in A minor for violin, viola and piano, Op. 5 (1908)
Recordings by the Quatuor Capet
(Made c.1925-1930)
- Beethoven: Quartet in A major, Op. 18 No. 5 (Columbia Records, D 1659-62).
- Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 (Col. D 15065-70).
- Beethoven: Quartet in E-flat major 'Harp', Op. 74 (Col., L 2248-51).
- Beethoven: Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 (Col., L 2283-87).
- Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 (Col., L 2272-76).
- Mozart: Quartet in C major, K. 465 (Col., L 2290-93).
- Schumann: Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 (Col., L 2329-31).
- Debussy: Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893) (Col., D 15085-8).
- Franck: Quintet in F minor, with Marcel Ciampi (pno) (Col., D 15102-6).
- Haydn: Quartet in D major, Op. 64 No. 5 'Lark' (Col., D 13070-2).
- Ravel: Quartet in F major (Col., D 15057-60).
- Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 'Death and the Maiden' (Col. D 15053-6).
Sources
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (London: Dent, 1924)
- L. Capet, Technique de l'Archet
- R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York, 1936)
- Memoirs of Carl Flesch
- Alberto Bachmann, Encyclopedia of the Violin
Notes and references
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.capetmusic.com Capetmusic.com]
- {{YouTube|Tk8c7RWig3I|Quatuor Capet - Lucien Capet}}
- [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7720372n Portrait et document]
- [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7720372n/f1.item Young Lucien Capet]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719103340/http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2003/7803316/original/Bild.jpg Lucien Capet Quartet]
- [http://www.robertcasadesus.com/en15pages.php?req_lang=en&PHPSESSID=be4178629fb068fe36235932c6f059da Robert Casadesus & Lucien Capet] "Robert (Casadesus) then entered the class of Lucien Capet, who had exceptional influence. Capet had founded a famous quartet that bore his name and in which two of Robert's uncles played: Henri and Marcel. The Quartet often rehearsed in the Casadesus home, and so it was that Robert was initiated into chamber music. The Beethoven Quartets held no secret for him—he knew them backwards and forwards without ever having played them! "
- {{IMSLP|id=Capet, Lucien}}
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Category:19th-century French violinists
Category:19th-century French male musicians
Category:French male classical violinists
Category:20th-century French violinists
Category:20th-century French male musicians
Category:Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris
Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour
Category:Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Category:French male classical composers
Category:French music educators