Sylvain Dupuis


Joseph Michel Sylvain Dupuis was a Belgian conductor, composer, oboist, and music educator.

Life

Born in Liège, Dupuis was trained at the Royal Conservatory of Liège. After graduating in 1878, he was appointed to that school's faculty as a professor of harmony. In 1911 he succeeded Jean-Théodore Radoux as the director of the conservatory. Among his notable pupils was Charles Houdret.
Dupuis worked actively as a composer during the early part of his career, but later became more heavily involved in his work as an opera conductor and music teacher. As a result, the majority of his works date from before 1900. In 1879 he won the Belgian Prix de Rome for his cantata Le Chant de la Création. In the 1880s he composed two operas, Moîna and Coûr d'ognon. His other compositions include several secular cantatas, the symphonic poem Macbeth, a concertino for oboe and orchestra, a number of choral works, and music for solo organ, piano, violin and cello.
In 1890 Dupuis was appointed to the conducting staff at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and in 1900 he assumed the role of principal conductor at that house. He notably conducted that opera house's first productions of Götterdämmerung, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tosca, Alceste, La damnation de Faust, Les Troyens, Salome, Fortunio, Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Madama Butterfly, Elektra, Feuersnot, and Roma. He also conducted numerous world premieres, including Ernest Chausson's Le roi Arthus, Albert Dupuis's Martylle, Albert Roussel's Symphony No. 1 Le poème de la forêt, Pierre de Bréville's Éros vainqueur, Cesare Galeotti's Dorisse, and Vincent d'Indy's Le chant de la cloche. He also conducted the premiere of the third and final revision of Isaac Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez on 3 January 1905.
Dupuis died in Bruges less than two weeks before his 75th birthday.

Honours