Victor Frédéric Verrimst (29 November 1825 – 16 January 1893) was a French

double-bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions such as the octobass). It has ...

ist and composer.

Biography

Of Belgian ancestry, Verrimst was born in Paris and studied double-bass at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

in Louis François Chaft's class as well as

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

with

Antoine Elwart Antoine Aimable Elie Elwart (19 September 1808 – 14 October 1877) was a French composer and musicologist. Biography Childhood Elwart was born in Paris in the family home. At the age of ten, he became a chorister at the mastery of the Saint-Eu ...

and

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

with Simon Leborne. A winner of the first prizes in these disciplines at the Conservatoire, he became a musician in the orchestra of the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

, then became bass soloist with the orchestra of the

Opéra de Paris The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

, at the

Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire () was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini. Administered by the phi ...

and played in the personal music of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

. Verrimst was also maître de chapelle of the église Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin then of the

Church of Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle Saint-Bernard-de-La-Chapelle (), is a Neo-Gothic architecture, Neo-Gothic Roman Catholic parish church located at 11 rue Affre in the 18th arrondissement of Paris in the quarter known as he Goutte d'Or It takes its name from Bernard de Clairvaux, ...

and double-bass professor at the Conservatoire de Paris. In this capacity, he was the author of a textbook for the double bass, which was in use at the Conservatoire, as well as a ''Solfège du contrebassiste''.''Solfège du contrebassiste''
on Gallica But Verrimst did not limit himself to writing for the double-bass. He composed several masses and

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s, various songs and piano works, a fantasy for trombone as well as an important collection of harmonized rounds and popular songs, published in two volumes. He died in

Houilles Houilles () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is a northwestern suburb of Paris, located from the center of Paris. History Until 2000, the command post of the French Navy's Ball ...

aged 67.

Bibliography

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and composer. He was among the most influential music intellectuals in continental Europe. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ...

: ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique'', volume 8 (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1867), p. 331. * François-Joseph Fétis and

Arthur Pougin Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at Châteauroux (Indre) and studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris under Alard (violin) and Reber (harmony). In 1855 he becam ...

: ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique: Supplément et complément'', volume 2 (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1880), pp. 616–617.

References

External links

*
Victor-Frédéric Verrimst
''Requiem Survey''
Partitions de Victor Frédéric Verrimst
on Gallica {{DEFAULTSORT:Verrimst, Victor Frédéric 1825 births 1893 deaths 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris French classical double-bassists French male double-bassists Musicians from Paris