What is Ernest Ansermet?
[[Image: ErnestAnsermet.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Ernest Ansermet]] '''Ernest Ansermet''' (born Vevey, [[Switzerland]], 11 November 1883; died 20 February 1969) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[Conducting|conductor]]. ==Life== Ansermet was born in Vevey, [[Switzerland]]. He started his career as a [[professor]] of [[mathematics]] at the University of [[Lausanne]]. He soon became more interested in conducting. He spent a year in [[Berlin]] to learn something from [[Arthur Nikisch]] and [[Felix Weingartner]]. In 1912, he began conducting at the Casino in [[Montreux]]. From 1915 to 1923 was the conductor for [[Sergei Diaghilev|Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]]. He travelled with them to [[France]] where he met [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]. He talked to them about how they wanted their works to be played. During [[World War I]], he met [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], who was [[exile]]d in Switzerland. This made him very interested in [[Russia]]n music. In 1918, Ansermet started an orchestra of his own, the [[Orchestre de la Suisse Romande]] (OSR). He remained conductor of this orchestra until he retired in 1966. He made this into an internationally famous orchestra. They travelled to many countries in Europe and America. They gave first performances of many modern works. After [[World War II]], they made many recordings for [[Decca Records]]. Ansermet was largely self-taught. His conducting was very different from that of many of the other famous conductors of the time such as [[Pierre Monteux]], [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]] and [[Otto Klemperer]]. He did not like the way that [[Stravinsky]] kept making changes to his works. He conducted works by [[Arthur Honegger]] and [[Frank Martin (composer)|Frank Martin]], but did not like [[serialism|serial music]] such as that of [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. He died in [[Geneva]] on 20 February 1969. ==References== Groves Dictionary of Music & Musicians, ed Stanley Sadie, 1980; {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ansermet, Ernest}} [[Category:1883 births]] [[Cat