A major figure during the golden age of American orchestral music, conductor Pierre Monteux had an exceptionally long career that began in the 19th century, encompassed the premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, which he conducted, and extended into the 1960s. He fundamentally shaped several American orchestras in the French style.

Monteux was born in Paris on April 4, 1875. His family was of Jewish background but was not religious. Monteux's father was a shoe salesman and had little interest in music, but his mother was a conservatory graduate who gave piano lessons. Monteux started violin lessons at six, and at nine, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris, where his classmates included George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler. He also made friends with pianist Alfred Cortot, and at 12, he organized an orchestra of his fellow students to back Cortot's concerts in the Paris area. Monteux became a member of the Quatuor Geloso as a violist and played in various Paris orchestras, including that of the Folies Bergère. His conducting debut came in 1895 as a substitute for Camille Saint-Saëns in a performance of the oratorio La lyre et la harpe; Saint-Saëns was dissatisfied with the organist and demanded to play the organ part himself as a nervous Monteux was drafted to step in. Monteux made his recording debut in 1903 in a group backing tenor Albert Vaguet in an excerpt from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

Monteux remained a successful violinist and violist, but in the first decades of the 20th century, more and more conducting opportunities came his way. He often collaborated with ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev, and it was through that connection that Monteux came to conduct one of the most famous events in classical music in the 20th century: the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") in 1913. Ironically, Monteux personally disliked the work, which caused an audience uproar at the premiere but went on to become acclaimed as a masterpiece. Monteux fought in the French army in World War I. After the war, he began working in the U.S., where he would spend much of the latter part of his career. He conducted several French operas at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in 1919, he became chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There he faced difficulties, for the orchestra's previous conductor, Karl Muck, had been forced out due to anti-German sentiment, and many players had left with him. Monteux remained in his chief conductor's post until 1924, patiently rebuilding the group by auditioning musicians of various backgrounds. The orchestra today still retains traces of Monteux's essentially French style, and he maintained close ties with the group, returning frequently to conduct and make several recordings.

Returning to Europe for a time, Monteux conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam from 1924 to 1934, also picking up the baton next at the new Orchestre Symphonique de Paris in 1929. He shaped that orchestra as well, remaining its conductor until 1938. In 1936, he also became music director of the San Francisco Symphony, remaining there until 1952 and devoting full time to it as storm clouds gathered in Europe. A school for conductors Monteux had established in France was moved to Hancock, Maine, where he lived part-time. Monteux remained active into his ninth decade, leading many European orchestras as a guest conductor and assuming the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961. Monteux conducted his last concert in April of 1964, leading the RAI Radio and Television Symphony in Milan, Italy. After a series of strokes, he died at his home in Maine on July 1, 1964. Many of Monteux's 78 rpm recordings, especially those he made with the Boston Symphony for the RCA Victor label, were reissued first on LP, then on CD, and then on streaming media; as of 2023, more than 175 albums featuring Monteux were in print. ~ James Manheim