Rouché, Jacques |
| PATRON OF THE ARTS (FRANCE) |
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BORN 16 Nov 1862, Lunel, Hérault - DIED 9 Nov 1957, Paris GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 03) |
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Jacques Rouché was the son of the mathematician Eugène Rouché. He studied in Paris and worked for several ministries. In 1889 he was head of security at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. In had a passion for the theatre and in 1891 he travelled to Vienna, Budapest and Bayreuth. In 1893 he married Berthe Piver. She was the heiress of the L.T. Piver perfumery and now he became a businessman. He expanded the business in many countries and became a very rich man. This allowed him to become a patron of the arts. In 1907 he bought "La Grande Revue" and he changed it from a legal to a cultural publication. Among its contributors were Maurice Denis, Romand Rolland and Gaston Doumergue. It existed until 1940. He rented the Théâtre des Arts in 1910 for three years and there he staged ballets, operas, drama and comedy. In 1913 he was appointed head of the Paris Opera. After the First World War he staged worksby Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc and Richard Strauss. In 1924 he was elected into the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1930 he appointed Serge Lifar as master of the ballet of the Paris Opera. After the Paris Opera was organisationally combined with the Opéra-Comique in 1939 he became the administrator. When he wanted to give up his post in 1940 his staff convinced hom to stay from fear that a nazi administrator would take over. He privately paid the wages of his Jewish staff after they were dismissed. In 1945 he lost his position, but in 1951 he was rehabilitated. In 1957 he died in Paris, aged 95. |
| Images |
 The grave of Jacques Rouché at the Montmartre Cimetière, Paris. Picture by Androom (05 Nov 2017) |
Sources • Jacques Rouché - Wikipédia (FR) |
