Name Marcel Labey | Role Conductor | |
 | ||
Died November 25, 1968, Nancy, France | ||
Marcel Labey (6 August 1875, Vésinet – 25 November 1968, Nancy) was a French conductor and composer.
Contents
Life
He was born to a family of magistrates and studied law in Paris (gaining his doctorate in 1898) before turning to music. He learned piano under Élie-Miriam Delaborde and Louis Breitner, and harmony under René Lenormand. He met Vincent d'Indy who made him follow his courses at the Schola Cantorum. The First World War interrupted his musical studies and career - he was wounded twice and mentioned in dispatches 4 times.
At the Schola Cantorum, he taught piano and (until the death of Vincent d'Indy) was one of its under-directors, and later became the co-founder and director of the Ecole César Franck (1935-962). He was also secretary of France's Société nationale de musique.
His wife Charlotte Sohy (1887-1955), herself a student of Vincent d'Indy, composed a symphony, melodies, four string quartets and a lyric drama in 3 acts called L'Esclave Couronnée, which adapted a novel by Selma Lagerlöf and was put on at Mulhouse on 6 May 1947.
Works
He rediscovered the "esprit franckiste" in his compositions.
Opera
Bérangère, liturgical drama in 3 acts (1911–1913 ; Le Havre, 12 April 1929)