Gabriel Astruc (14 March 1864 â€" 7 July 1938) was a French
journalist, agent, promoter, theatre manager, theatrical impresario,
and playwright whose career connects many of the best-known incidents
and personalities of Belle Epoque Paris.Born in Bordeaux, to the
Astruc family, he was the son of Élie Aristide Astruc (1831â€"1905),
the Grand Rabbi of Belgium from 1866â€"1879, and began his career
working for publisher Paul Ollendorff, and as a columnist from 1885
through 1895. As a regular at Montmartre's prototypically bohemian Le
Chat Noir cabaret, he befriended a young Erik Satie and wrote articles
and theater pieces under the pen name Surtac.[1] In 1897 he founded a
music publishing company with his father-in-law Wilhelm Enoch, by 1900
he had introduced the luxury magazine Musica, and by 1904 had become a
concert promoter.In this period he was the booking agent for Mata
Hari. Astruc booked Hari into the Paris Olympia in August 1905, and
would manage her appearances for the next ten years, through the
height of her considerable fame. He also served as booking agent for
Feodor Chaliapin, Arthur Rubinstein, and Wanda Landowska, but not
Isadora Duncan, whom he considered too subtle to attract a sizable
audience.[2]From 1905 through 1912 Astruc brought a long list of
musical giants to Paris under the banner "Great Season of Paris",
including an Italian season with Enrico Caruso and Australian soprano
Nellie Melba in 1905, the creation of Salome under the baton of
Richard Strauss in 1907, the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev in 1909, the
Metropolitan Opera conducted by Arturo Toscanini in 1910, and
Debussy's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (text by Gabriele D'Annunzio)
in 1911.
journalist, agent, promoter, theatre manager, theatrical impresario,
and playwright whose career connects many of the best-known incidents
and personalities of Belle Epoque Paris.Born in Bordeaux, to the
Astruc family, he was the son of Élie Aristide Astruc (1831â€"1905),
the Grand Rabbi of Belgium from 1866â€"1879, and began his career
working for publisher Paul Ollendorff, and as a columnist from 1885
through 1895. As a regular at Montmartre's prototypically bohemian Le
Chat Noir cabaret, he befriended a young Erik Satie and wrote articles
and theater pieces under the pen name Surtac.[1] In 1897 he founded a
music publishing company with his father-in-law Wilhelm Enoch, by 1900
he had introduced the luxury magazine Musica, and by 1904 had become a
concert promoter.In this period he was the booking agent for Mata
Hari. Astruc booked Hari into the Paris Olympia in August 1905, and
would manage her appearances for the next ten years, through the
height of her considerable fame. He also served as booking agent for
Feodor Chaliapin, Arthur Rubinstein, and Wanda Landowska, but not
Isadora Duncan, whom he considered too subtle to attract a sizable
audience.[2]From 1905 through 1912 Astruc brought a long list of
musical giants to Paris under the banner "Great Season of Paris",
including an Italian season with Enrico Caruso and Australian soprano
Nellie Melba in 1905, the creation of Salome under the baton of
Richard Strauss in 1907, the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev in 1909, the
Metropolitan Opera conducted by Arturo Toscanini in 1910, and
Debussy's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (text by Gabriele D'Annunzio)
in 1911.
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