Ernest Ansermet 1883-1969

If you listen to classical music on the radio, you will hear the name of Ansermet, the conductor, mentioned almost as many times as Stravinsky, the composer. The name of Ansermet is also inseparable from that of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. A modest, upright, uncompromising, and stubborn man, Ernest Ansermet hated celebrity. Nevertheless,...

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The woman whom Napoleon hated most… Madame de Stael (1766–1817)

The brilliant personality of Madame de Stael made her the most famous woman in Europe at the dawning of the nineteenth century. Although her parents were from Geneva, she was actually born in Paris on 22 April 1766 and her name was Germaine Necker. Her father was Jacques Necker, a wealthy Genevese banker, and hence...

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