A European walk through Bordeaux 7
The Emerigon “Musical Circle.
32, Rue de Cheverus.
Le président
Emérigon (1762-1847).
A group of music enthusiasts used to meet twice
a week at the hotel located 12 Rue de Cheverus (now 32). The events were organised by lawyer, and then magistrate, Marc-Pierre-Marie Emerigon,
who was a composer and violinist in his spare time, and his pianist wife.
They called themselves the Cercle musical [musical circle],
and their meetings were held on Sundays and Wednesdays through to the end of
1836.
In 1832, he married Georgina Dupont, a distinguished pianist. Under her influence, the Emerigon salon
quickly became the meeting
place of all Bordeaux music enthusiasts. Posterity conferred upon the couple the perennial reputation of an improbable musical duo. They invited eminent
artists to their home, who performed at gala evenings in the salon located in Rue
Judaïque (now Rue de Cheverus).
It attracted the great artists visiting Bordeaux, such as the Belgian
Alexandre-Joseph Artot, the Moravian
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865), pianists
Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785-1849), Henri Herz
(1803-1888) and the famous Sigismund
Thalberg (1812-1871), whose fame
has since been eclipsed by that of Liszt and Chopin, as well
as singers like Cornélie Falcon and Adolphe Nourrit. Emerigon,
deemed a more than mediocre composer and performer, was happy to take up his bow alongside
the famous violinist Pierre
Rode.
Two months
after the dissolution of the Cercle musical, Emerigon, who had
become the presiding judge of the court of Bordeaux, set his
sights on an even greater ambition, and so, to “promote and spread the love of music,”
on 25 February 1837 he founded … …
… …
… …
Return to Rue du Loup and continue
to Place Pey-Berland,
then turn right and walk to number 17.
© Bertrand Favreau and
Tyché Editions 2014
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