A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tilmant, Théophile

TILMANT, Théophile, French conductor, born at Valenciennes July 8, 1799, and educated at the Paris Conservatoire, where he took the first violin prize in R. Kreutzer's class in 1818. He played with great fire and brilliancy, and had a wonderful instinct for harmony, though without much scientific knowledge. On the formation of the Société des Concerts in 1828 he was appointed vice-conductor, and also played solo in a concerto of Mayseder's. In 1834 he became vice- and in 1838 chief-conductor at the Théâtre Italien, where he remained till 1849. In 1838, with his brother Alexandre, a distinguished cellist (born at Valenciennes Oct. 2, 1808, died in Paris June 13, 1880), he founded a quartet-society, which maintained its popularity for some ten years or so. In 1849 he succeeded Labarre as conductor of the Opéra Comique, an enviable and responsible post, which he held for nearly 20 years. The composers whose operas he mounted found him earnest and conscientious, and he conducted with a fire and a dash perfectly irresistible, both there and at the Concerts du Conservatoire, which he directed from 1860 to 1863. In 1868 he left the Opéra Comique, and retired to Asnières, where he died May 7, 1878. He received the Legion of Honour in 1861.

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