Louis Bailly

Bailly, Louis

Louis Bailly. Violist, teacher, b Valenciennes, France, 13 Jun 1882, naturalized Canadian 1950, d Cowansville, near Sherbrooke, Que, 21 Nov 1974; premier prix (Paris Cons) 1899, honorary D MUS (Curtis) 1930. He studied violin and viola at the Paris Cons. After playing in the orchestras of the Opéra, the Opéra-Comique and the Concerts Colonne, he became a founding member in 1903 of the Capet Quartet, was a member of the Geloso and Elman quartets, and played 1917-24 with the Flonzaley Quartet in the USA. He played as a soloist with several large US orchestras and gave the premiere (1920) of Ernest Bloch's Suite for viola and orchestra in New York; the preceding year he had given the premiere of the version with piano in Pittsfield, Mass with Harold Bauer. He was a teacher 1925-41 (latterly head of the chamber music department) at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where Stanley Solomon was one of his pupils. He taught violin, viola, and chamber music 1943-57 at the CMM. Bailly was the coach 1944-5 of a CMM string quartet formed by Noël Brunet, Lionel Renaud, Lucien Robert, and Roland Leduc, and he sometimes performed himself with chamber music ensembles at the CMM. He was a Knight of the Legion of Honour.