Fernand Ochsé
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Louise-Cath%C3%A9rine_Breslau_Fernand_Ochs%C3%A9_1898.jpg/220px-Louise-Cath%C3%A9rine_Breslau_Fernand_Ochs%C3%A9_1898.jpg)
Fernand Ochsé (January 11, 1879 in Paris – August 1944 in [or on his way to] Auschwitz) was a French Jewish designer, dandy, author, composer, painter and art collector.[1]
Life[]
Fernand Ochsé came from a family of Jewish merchants. His older brother, Julien Ochsé (1876–1936) was a lyricist. They lived in a large villa in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where they held musical evenings often attended by Parisian celebrities. Julien Ochsé married the Belgian sculptor Louise Mayer in 1906. After the death of his brother Julien, Fernand Ochsé married his widow.
Fernand Ochsé studied at the Paris Conservatory, where he met Arthur Honegger (who became his protégé), Maurice Ravel and Reynaldo Hahn, with whom he remained friends.[2] In 1918, Honegger dedicated the ballet Le Dit des Jeux du Monde to him and in 1930 the operetta Les Aventures du Roi Pausole. He composed operettas and numerous songs.
Ochsé worked with his brother and organized readings and conferences at his request. In their villa, they held literary salons dedicated to the artistic trends of their time. He (co) created sets and staging. In 1923, he was responsible for the creation of the operetta Ciboulette by Reynaldo Hahn. In 1928, he created the costumes for La Chute de la Maison Usher by Jean Epstein
In 1934, he designed the cover of the edition of songs by composer Pierre Octave Ferroud Trois Chansons by Jules Supervielle.
He was also one of the illustrators of La Revue Musicale.
His friend Marcel Proust wrote that "Ochsé reigns," Reynaldo Hahn, Honegger, and many others wrote laudatory things about him. At the age of 103, in 2017, Gisèle Casadesus showed affection from her Montmartro house.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Fernand_Ochs%C3%A9_Arthur_Honegger.jpg/220px-Fernand_Ochs%C3%A9_Arthur_Honegger.jpg)
Murdered by Nazis[]
When the Nazis attacked France in 1940, Louise and Fernand Ochsé fled, They were arrested in Cannes in July 1944 and imprisoned in Nice, then deported to the Drancy camp. They were deported on July 31, 1944 by Convoy 77 to the Auschwitz extermination camp, where they were killed.[3]
Looted art: MNR 226[]
One of the paintings from Ochsé's collection, Le souper au bal (d'après Menzel) by Edgar Degas, [4] turned up in the collection of the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg. Its reference number MNR 226, which identified it as Nazi loot returned to France's "Musées Nationale de Recupération (MNR)" inspired an article in the French weekly Le Monde, entitled Edgar Degas, MNR 226 : l'histoire d'un tableau which details the itinerary of the Degas. From Ochsé's collection and the Coutot collection it was "sold" by the Nazis through the French art dealer Hector Brame to the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe for an exchange with the Nazionalgalerie Berlin, before being recovered by the Allies and returned to the French authorities who deposited it at the museum in Strasbourg.[5] Asked about the transaction, the art dealer's family, which still owns the galerie Brame et Lorenceau, expressed surprise.[6]
Artworks[]
- La poésie dans l'opérette, in Conferencia. Revue mensuelle des Lettres, 15. Juli 1938
- C'était hier (valse chantée). Texte Gustave Nadaud. Orchestre Marcel Cariven. Schallplattenaufnahme 1940;
Songs et Piano
- Odelettes. Composition. Texte Henri de Régnier. Paris : Heugel, non daté.
- Le Parc. Poèmes des "Fêtes galantes" de Paul Verlaine. Composition. Berlin : Adolph Fürstner, 1913
- Ce que je préfère. Texte und Composition. Paris : Choudens, 1933.
- Ménage moderne. Composition. Paris : Coda, 1934
- Réponse à Balzac. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
- Me v'là ! Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
- Sur les toits. Composition. Texte P.-G. Dublin. Paris : S. Fox, 1935.
- Réponse à Balzac. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
- Vite et doucement. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
- L'Arithmétique. Composition. Texte P. G. Dublin. Paris : S. Fox, 1935.
Bibliography[]
- Patrick Besnier, Henri de Régnier : de Mallarmé à l’Art déco. Paris : Fayard, 2015 ISBN 978-2-213-63177-6
- Benoit Duteurtre La Mort de Fernand Ochsé, Fayard, Paris, 2017. Commentaire biblio: Roman inspiré de la vie de Fernand Ochsé
- Ravel, Maurice (2018). L'intégrale : Correspondance (1895-1937), écrits et entretiens (in French). Paris: Le Passeur Éditeur. p. 1769. ISBN 978-2368905777. Commentaire biblio: Contient une correspondance de Maurice Ravel à Fernand Ochsé n°2208 (1928)
Notes and references[]
- ^ Lançon, Philippe. "Benoît Duteurtre : la tragédie de Fernand Ochsé, créateur d'opérettes". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2021-04-02.
- ^ "Inspiring the Nation: French Music about Jeanne d'Arc in the 1930s and 1940s" (PDF).
Artist and composer Fernand Ochsé, one of Honegger’s closest friends, had evidently sung the tenor role of Porcus at the private, first audition of Jeanne hosted by Ida Rubinstein in 1935. Ochsé was Jewish, and during the war, he went into hiding in the southern zone. He was captured in Cannes in July 1944 and sent to the internment camp of Drancy. Despite Honegger’s attempts to secure his release, Ochsé was transported to Auschwitz where he was killed on 4 August 1944, just weeks before the liberation of Paris.90 No matter how others remembered Jeanne au bûcher, for the composer himself, the work remained tied to achingly personal memories of the war.
- ^ Duteurtre, Benoît (1960-). La mort de Fernand Ochsé : récit. ISBN 978-2-213-62999-5. OCLC 1023437371.
- ^ "Edgar Degas, MNR 226 : l'histoire d'un tableau". Le Monde.fr (in French). 1996-04-26. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ "Edgar Degas, MNR 226 : l'histoire d'un tableau". Le Monde.fr (in French). 1996-04-26. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
Elle a figuré dans la collection Ochsé, puis dans la collection Coutot, toutes deux parisiennes. Elle est entrée ensuite dans celle d'Hector Brame, éminent marchand de tableaux. La notice continue alors en ces termes : « 1941 Paris, en vente ; acquis en 1941 par la Kunsthalle de Karlsruhe, en vue d'un échange avec la Nazionalgalerie de Berlin, qui aboutit en 1943 (le panneau de Degas contre une oeuvre de Hackert et une de Slevogt) ; évacué, après 1945 conservé à Wiesbaden ; attribué au Louvre par l'Office des biens privés en 1950 ; mis en dépôt au Musée d'art moderne de Strasbourg en 1951. »
- ^ "Edgar Degas, MNR 226 : l'histoire d'un tableau". Le Monde.fr (in French). 1996-04-26. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
Interrogé, Philippe Brame, petit-fils d'Hector Brame et l'un des directeurs de la galerie Brame et Lorenceau, ne dissimule pas sa surprise. Il n'avait été jusqu'alors jamais averti de l'existence de cette oeuvre et de son pedigree, dont il ne pouvait avoir connaissance personnellement : il avait douze ans en 1940.A l'inverse, le nom du premier acquéreur lui est familier : Fernand Ochsé. Son grand-père était lié à ce collectionneur d'origine juive. Sous l'Occupation, il se réfugia avec son épouse à Mougins, où ils furent capturés à l'été 44 par les nazis, lesquels s'emparèrent également de deux de leurs tableaux, deux Guardi. Les Ochsé disparurent dans un camp d'extermination, les Guardi n'ont jamais reparu et passent pour avoir été détruits lors du bombardement d'un convoi allemand.
- French people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp
- Conservatoire de Paris alumni
- French male composers
- Jewish art collectors
- French Jews who died in the Holocaust
- Drancy internment camp prisoners
- French civilians killed in World War II