GALA | Commemorating the Centenary of Prince Rainier III

The Gala de l'Académie de Musique took place on June 14, 2023, with an exceptional program to commemorate the centenary of Prince Rainier III.

The first part of the program evoked Prince Rainier III's intimate relationship with music, through the performance of works by several musicians whose careers accompanied the life of the Princely Family.

Nadia BOULANGER

First and foremost, Nadia Boulanger: pedagogue and composer, she forged deep ties with the Princely Family. It all began with Prince Pierre, to whom she had the privilege of giving private music lessons between 1933 and 1935.

Nadia Boulanger was then appointed Kapellmeister of the Prince's Palace for the funeral of Prince Louis II in 1949, before helping to draw up and execute the musical program for Prince Rainier III's accession ceremonies.

She was appointed member of the Ecole Municipale de Musique commission in 1951, then member of the Académie de Musique commission in 1956.

Nadia Boulanger also created and directed the musical program for Prince Rainier III's wedding to Grace Patricia Kelly in 1956.

In 1966, Nadia Boulanger was appointed member of the musical council of the Prince Pierre de Monaco Foundation, and in 1967 a prestigious concert was organized in Monte-Carlo for his 80th birthday. On this occasion, the magnificent musical program was illustrated with an original lithograph by Marc Chagall.

In 1968, Nadia Boulanger was appointed President of the Comité National de la Musique.

The constant relationship between Prince Rainier III and Nadia Boulanger is illustrated by the letters he wrote to her, testifying to the high esteem in which he held her.

Even today, the ties between Nadia Boulanger and the Principality remain strong. Every two years, with the support of His Serene Highness the Sovereign Prince, the grand "Prix de duo Chant/Piano " Prix Rainier III de Monaco" is awarded to the best students. The prize was created by the Centre International Nadia et Lili Boulanger.

The evocation of the work and personality of Nadia Boulanger contributes to the rediscovery and highlighting of the career of an exceptional woman.

Photo de Nadia BOULANGER / Archives du Palais

Marc-César SCOTTO

This brilliant Monegasque musician, admitted to the Concours de Rome in 1914, would undoubtedly have gone on to win the Grand Prix, had the war not put a stop to his studies. Pianist-repetiteur in 1921 at the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo, he became its first conductor in 1929. In the meantime, he was chosen by Serge De Diaghilev as musical director of his Ballets Russes, and created numerous contemporary scores. He succeeded Gustave Graefe as Director of the Ecole de Musique by sovereign decree on August 14, 1941, a position he held until his death in Monaco on December 6, 1960.

The exceptional violin

The creation of the Academy's violin making workshop in 1977, on the initiative of Prince Rainier III, enabled the work of the only violin maker practicing in the Principality, François Vial, to be perpetuated and continued. This Monegasque, who had won the gold medal at the Brussels Universal Exhibition, had passed away, so the Monaco Town Hall acquired his tools and the essences that made up his workshop, and this "Vial Fund" was included in the Academy's activities, with the creation of a violin making teacher's post.

This unique pedagogical project within the framework of an Academy of Music (manufacturing and restoration techniques) is still very much alive, and this year, to pay tribute to Prince Rainier III, the students of the violin making workshop and their teacher, Mr. Roberto Masini, designed and made an exceptional violin, offered to the Sovereign Prince as part of the Gala.

Photo du Violon d'exception / Yuma MURATA

Creation of an exceptional violin by the Académie Rainier III violin making class

Roberto Masini, who has been teaching at the Académie for several years, created this exceptional violin with his students, and was able to build it over the course of a school year in the "lutherie" department.

"Every instrument carries within it the specific charge of its material and diffuses a magnetism buried in its organic cells, invading our perception without our knowledge. Whether they're made of air, copper, wood or horsehair, vibrations are more powerful than the language they convey. The material substances that make up lutherie retain indelible characteristics in their roots. "

Patrice SCIORTINO