Recalling the legacy of Désiré Defauw, the third music director of the CSO

August 31, 2021 — ‹ 5 min read

Sept. 5 marks the birthday of Désiré Defauw (1885-1960), the third music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1943 to 1947.

Through his CSO programming, the Belgian-born conductor and violinist introduced local audiences to the works of contemporary composers Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Edward Elgar, Darius Milhaud, Jean Sibelius and William Walton, among others. For RCA, Defauw and the CSO recorded a wide repertoire, including works by Alexander Borodin, Cesar Franck, André Grétry, George Frideric Handel, Sergei Prokofiev, Ottorino Respighi, Bedřich Smetana and Igor Stravinsky. (In the Spotify playlist embedded below, Defauw leads the CSO in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Erica Morini as soloist).

Interestingly, Defauw was named music director just a month after making his CSO debut in subscription concerts on Jan. 7-8, 1943, performing Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, Debussy’s Clouds and Festivals from Nocturnes, Franck’s Le chasseur maudit and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. He also led a one-off concert on Jan. 9 featuring Weber’s Overture to Euryanthe, Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela from Four Legends of the Kalevala, selections from Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique).

Before taking up his CSO post, Defauw was director of the Concerts du Conservatoire, Belgium’s leading orchestra, and of the Belgian National Radio. In 1937, he established the Orchestra National de Belgique. At the invitation of Arturo Toscanini, he made his U.S. podium debut in 1939, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Defauw’s CSO tenure coincided with World War II, when many musicians went off to serve in the Armed Forces (which allowed more women to join orchestras). For the first concerts of the 55th season (on Oct. 4-5, 1945), Defauw led the CSO in the national anthems of the Allied nations: China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

After leaving the CSO in 1947, Defauw returned for some guest conducting assignments — one of which was a televised concert in 1953 for the series “Great Music From Chicago.” That session, recorded at WGN Studios, is one of the CSO’s earliest video-captured performances in the collections of the CSO’s Rosenthal Archives. Earlier this year, the concert was digitally remastered for streaming on the CSOtv platform.

Also following his stint at Orchestra Hall, Defauw became the music director of two other Midwest ensembles: the Gary (Ind.) Symphony Orchestra from 1950 to 1958 and the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Symphony from 1954 to 1958. After a period of ill health, he died of pneumonia at age 74 in his Gary home on July 25, 1960.