Renée Chemet
Renée Chemet (January 9, 1887 – January 2, 1977) was a French violinist.
Renée Chemet | |
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![]() Renée Chemet standing at a microphone, from the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. | |
Born | Renée Henriette Joséphine Chemet January 9, 1887 Boulogne-sur-Seine |
Died | January 2, 1977 89) Paris | (aged
Nationality | French |
Other names | Renée Chemet-Decreus (after marriage) |
Occupation | violinist |
Spouse | Camille Decreus |
Early life
Renée Henriette Joséphine Chemet was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine. She studied with Henri Berthelier at the Conservatoire de Paris, graduating in 1902.[1]
Career
Chemet toured the world as a violinist for decades, playing a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. In 1904, still a teenager, she was a soloist at the Proms concerts in London, under conductor Henry Wood.[1] In 1907, she toured North America as a violinist with her husband, pianist Camille Decreus, in the company of Emma Calvé.[2][3] "Madame Chemet is a violinist of great talent", explained a reviewer who heard her in Hamburg in 1911, "with great skill, splendid technique, and big (rather manly) tone. Her style of playing is eminently French; she sometimes overdoes it by forcing sentiment and cantilène."[4]
During World War I, when travel was difficult, she gave benefit concerts and performed for the troops in France, and worked as a nurse's aide; she was awarded the Legion of Honour for her service.[5]
After the war, Chemet was a soloist in Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Glasgow in 1920.[6] In New York, she played at Carnegie Hall in 1921, at Aeolian Hall in 1923,[7] Town Hall in 1927,[8] and at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1925 and 1928.[9][10] Throughout the 1920s, she made many recordings,[11][12] and appeared regularly on radio. "Radio paves the way," she told a New York Times interviewer in 1930. "It popularizes tunes, the great symphony orchestras, the talented singers and instrumental soloists that would be ignored without this medium."[13] She played Maud Powell's violin[14] on the radio in New York in 1925.[15][16]
![](../I/Pamphlet_of_Ren%C3%A9e_Chemet%252C_Anca_Seidlova_and_Michio_Miyagi's_recital_that_was_held_in_Japan_in_1932.jpg.webp)
Chemet traveled through Hawaii to Japan in 1932, to perform with pianist Anca Seidlova and koto player Michio Miyagi.[17][18][19] Later that year, she performed with the BBC Orchestra.[20]
Personal life
Chemet married fellow French musician Camille Decreus in 1906.[21] He died in 1939. She died in 1977, a week before her 90th birthday, in Paris.
References
- E. Windust, "Renee Chemet-Decreus" The Strad (July 1909): 130-131.
- "The Calve Concert Sale" Town Talk (November 30, 1907): 23.
- "Program for Calve Concert" The Leavenworth Times (November 2, 1907): 8. via Newspapers.com
- "Music in Hamburg" The Strad (December 1911): 295.
- "Celebrated Violinist is in America" Carry On (February 1926): 6.
- "Music in the Provinces" The Musical Times (March 1, 1920): 196-208.
- Richard Aldrich, "Renee Chemet's Recital" New York Times (November 23, 1923): 21. via ProQuest
- "Violin Recital by Chemet" New York Times (December 6, 1927): 25. via ProQuest
- "Renee Chemet in Concert" New York Times (December 14, 1925): 19. via ProQuest
- "Renee Chemet in Opera Concert" New York Times (December 24, 1928): 18. via ProQuest
- Renée Chemet, Discography of American Historical Recordings.
- "Three Celebrated Pianists and Famous Violinist Added to Roster of Chickering Artists' Department" Music Trades (December 29, 1923): 16.
- "An Artist Reveals a Love for Radio" New York Times (March 9, 19300: 155. via ProQuest
- "Noted Baritone and Violinist to Broadcast on Thursday" New York Times (February 8, 1925): XX15. via ProQuest
- Peter Tschmuck, Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry (Springer Science and Business Media 2006): 55. ISBN 9781402042744
- 'The Microphone will Present" New York Times (April 20, 1930): 116. via ProQuest
- "Madame Chemet is Planning Concert Here This Summer" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (March 29, 1932): 38. via Newspapers.com
- Miyagi Michio, International Shakuhachi Society.
- Ena Kajino, "A Lost Opportunity for Tradition: The Violin in Early Twentieth-Century Japanese Traditional Music" Nineteenth-Century Music Review 10(2)(December 2013): 293-321.
- G. A. H., "An Orchestra Concert" The Guardian (November 7, 1932): 10. via Newspapers.com
- "Music in Paris" Musical Courier (June 5, 1907): 11.
External links
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- A 1909 portrait of Chemet with her violin, in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington Libraries.
- A Renée Chemet recital program (1929), from an appearance at McMurry College in Abilene, Texas, in The Portal to Texas History.
- Emily Liz, "Great female violinists of the past" Violinist.com (December 27, 2010). A blog post including Chemet.