Léon Jehin (17 July 1853 – 14 February 1928) was a conductor and composer, especially associated with the opera house in Monte Carlo.Favre G. Histoire Musicale de la Principauté de Monaco du XVIe au XXe siècle. Éditions des Archives du Palais Princier, Monaco/Éditions A et J Picard, Paris, 1974. Jehin composed the national anthem of Monaco.
Life and career Jehin was born in Spa, Belgium. He studied at the conservatoire in Liege and then in Brussels. He was a violinist at La Monnaie in the Belgian capital and conducted at Anvers, Aix-les-Bains, and the Royal Opera House. In 1889, when he was an assistant conductor in Brussels, he succeeded Arthur Steck as the conductor of the Monte Carlo Opera in Monaco, a position he held until his death. His first performance there was of Mireille by Charles Gounod.Walsh T J. Monte Carlo opera, 1879–1909. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1975.
In addition to conducting the main repertoire at the Monte Carlo opera, he conducted the premieres of the following operas: Hulda (Franck) 8 March 1894 La jacquerie (Édouard Lalo and Arthur Coquard) 9 May 1895 Ghiselle (Franck) 30 March 1896 Messaline (Isidore de Lara) 21 March 1899 Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (Massenet) 18 February 1902 Chérubin (Massenet) 14 February 1905 L'ancêtre (Saint-Saëns) 24 February 1906 Don Procopio (Bizet) 10 March 1906 Thérèse (Massenet) 7 February 1907 Don Quichotte (Massenet) 19 February 1910 Déjanire (Saint-Saëns) 14 March 1911 Roma (Massenet) 17 February 1912 Pénélope (Fauré) 4 March 1913 Cléopâtre (Massenet) 23 February 1914 Béatrice (Messager) 21 March 1914 Amadis (Massenet) 1 April 1922
In 1889 he married the mezzo-soprano Blanche Deschamps, with whom he had worked in Brussels.
In 1910, at La Monnaie, Jehin conducted Don Quichotte with the premiere cast and the Monte Carlo orchestra, as well as Ivan le terrible (premiere), and Le vieil aigle by Raoul Gunsbourg.'Computerised Archival Retrieval in Multimedia Enhanced Networking' - The digital opera archives of La Monnaie. http://carmen.demunt.be/ accessed 5 August 2011. He died in Monaco, aged 74. In 1953, a centennial concert was held in his memory in the Monte Carlo Casino.
Compositions Jehin's compositions include a Hymne à la Charte for soloists, chorus, and orchestra (Monte-Carlo, 1889), Scherzo symphonique (1902), Intermezzo for horn and orchestra (1909), a Marche Inaugurale (for the opening of the Musée Océanographique, 1909), and a Suite symphonique (1921).
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