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THE
SQUIRE
OF
HANCOCK
Pierre Monteux-in Boston and Paris
the Maitre; but to his neighbors
in Maine he is known as "Chummy"
A disarmingly warm and informal atmosphere prevails
at Hancock, with Monteux generally appearing
in a jacket, slacks, and canvas sneakers.
By MARTIN BOOKSPAN
Director of Recorded Music, Radio Station WQXR
TWENTY miles from the luxurious resort of Bar
Harbor, Maine, is the little village of H ancock. It
could well be the setting for that classic tourist wisecrack,
"This is a nice town we're driving through,
wasn't it?" Hancock is distinguished from similar hamlets
which dot the map of New England in that one
of the world's most renowned musicians- Pierre Monteux-has
chosen to make his home there. This great
conductor at the age of 83 is currently enjoying the
most far-reaching popular and critical acclaim of his
long career. To his Hancock neighbors and family
Pierre Monteux is known as "Chummy," a glorious
local institution who has b ecome a thoroughly unreconstructed
Maine-iac. The only thing missing is the
intrusion of a "Down East" twang in a deliciously
Frenchified English speech.
Next to Hancock, Monteux probably feels most at
home in Symphony Hall, Boston, where for five seasons
(1919-1924) he was Music Director of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. It was backstage in Symphony
Hall that I first met Monteux about a dozen years ago.
Richard Burgin, the Orchestra's veteran concertmaster,
had just played the Mendelssohn Concerto with Koussevitzky
conducting; Monteux, returning to Hancock
by way of Boston after his own season with the San
Francisco Symphony, was one of those on hand to congratulate
Burgin. When Koussevitzky spied Monteux,
he turned and said, "And congratulations to you, too,
30
"I try to make them musician-conductors," says
Monteux, "not showing-off conductors."
for this is your Konzertmeister." It was Monteux who
had brought Burgin to Boston as concertmaster in
1920.) "And when," Koussevitzky continued, "will you
come back to conduct your orchestra again?"
"Any time you ask me," was Monteux's reply. When
I reminded him of this incident several years later, h e
added with a sly twinkle in his eye, "Yes, but he nevair
asked me!"
An invitation was extended by Koussevitzky's successor
in Boston, Charles Munch, and Monteux returned
to the Boston Symphony Orchestra as guest
conductor in January, 1951, nearly three decades after
he had conducted his last concert as the orcllestra's
Music Director. In the intervening period he had been
active on both sides of the Atlantic, in Amsterdam and
Paris, and from 1936 on as Music Director of the San
Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
HIFI & MUSIC REVIEW