Maurice Babin
Maurice Babin was born in 1888 in Nantes (France). He studied violin (under Jules Piedeleu), viola (under Auguste Beccaria) and cello (under Otto Jandin) at the conservatory in Nantes. He received first prizes for violin (in 1905) and viola (in 1907) as well as a second prize for cello in 1908. In the first years after his graduation Maurice Babin performed as a violist in different quartets, quintets and chamber ensembles. In 1919 Maurice Babin was appointed professor for viola at the conservatory in Nantes. He also performed as viola soloist in the orchestra of the Schola Cantorum in Nantes. But he more and more focussed on conducting. In 1922 Maurice Babin founded a concert society in Nantes called "Concerts populaires". The concerts of this orchestra became very popular and were well reviewed:
"The Concerts Babin are recommended by many qualities. First, breaking with the routine that invades the best organizations, they make a considerable contribution to contemporary music. In less than a year, he offered us the main works of Debussy, Chausson, Séverac, Dukas, Charpentier, Chabrier ... ".
(Paul Ladmirault in "L'Ouest-Éclair" from 20.08.1923)
In 1925 Maurice Babin became conductor of the orchestra in Mulhouse and some years later of the Orchestre du Casino in Vittel. In the early 1930s Maurice Babin moved to Tunisia and became conductor of the Tunis Symphony Orchestra. He returned to France around 1940 and conducted the Orchestre de Lyon PTT and in 1944 the newly founded Orchestre Rennes-Bretagne PTT. In his last years Maurice Babin also worked as guest conductor. For example he returned to the Tunis Symphony Orchestra in 1951 to perform several concerts.
Maurice Babin died in 1970.
Maurice Babin also composed a few works during his lifetime. It is known that he composed a "Songe Arabe, for violin and orchestra" around 1920. And his oratorio "L'Enfant Prodigue" was premiered under his own direction with the Concerts Populaires in Nantes in December 1923.
In my possession is a private copy of the handwritten manuscript of the composition "Aux etoiles, for violin and piano" by Maurice Babin. The composition is dedicated to "mon ami Amalou". The manuscript is unfortunately not dated and I could not find any further references about the work. Therefore I present the score of the composition here for information purposes:
