{"id":3491,"date":"2024-04-22T16:01:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T14:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mugi.lu\/subject\/beby-kohl-thommes\/"},"modified":"2024-11-28T23:28:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T22:28:32","slug":"beby-kohl-thommes","status":"publish","type":"composer","link":"https:\/\/mugi.lu\/en\/subject\/beby-kohl-thommes\/","title":{"rendered":"B\u00e9by Kohl-Thommes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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1923 – 2016 <\/h3>\n\n\n

B\u00e9by Kohl-Thommes<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Jean F\u00e9lix Thommes was living with his wife Marguerite in Carling in northern France when their daughter was born on 16th<\/sup> January 1923: Barbe Marguerite Thommes, called \u201eB\u00e9by\u201c.\u202fFive years after her birth, her parents moved back to their home country in Luxembourg, where the family moved into a house in Rollingergrund. B\u00e9by Thommes attended the \u00c9cole primaire, came in touch with a violin for the first time and began to dream of a career as a soloist. She later took lessons in violin, singing, solf\u00e8ge and counterpoint at the municipal conservatory in Luxembourg. After the \u00c9cole secondaire, she transferred to the \u00c9cole normale in 1939 with the idea of becoming a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the invasion of German troops in May 1940, Thommes had to interrupt her musical studies: Most of the teaching staff at the \u00c9cole normale was replaced and the curriculum was reorganised to suit the interests of the occupying forces. Between 1943 and 1944, she was sent to Vianden in the north of the country, where she had to teach a year 6th<\/sup> class. These and other wartime events prompted Thommes to write her first composition: O Letzeburg…<\/em>, based on a patriotic text by Justin Kohl, her future husband. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the war, music once again took centre stage: from January 1946, she studied at the conservatory in Geneva \u2013 first violin, then singing. After two years of study, she signed on for a season at the municipal theatre in Trier, where she got her first engagement as Gilda in Verdi\u2019s Rigoletto<\/em>. Despite these early successes as a soprano, she consciously decided against a major career as a soloist in order to be able to combine her career and family. Apart from a few concert appearances abroad, her life from then on centred on Luxembourg \u2013 both professionally and privately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From then on, she worked as a soprano in various formations and genres. She made a name for herself primarily as an interpreter of Lou Koster\u2019s works, but also as a founding member of the vocal ensembles Onst Lidd<\/em> and Le Madrigal de Luxembourg<\/em>. She also worked as a teacher at the European School and was intensively involved with the music education theories of Carl Orff and Zolt\u00e1n Kod\u00e1ly. Composing also remained an integral part of her activities. The first works from her early years were followed by a considerable number of works, especially from the 1970s onwards, including primarily monophonic children’s songs and choral pieces as well as individual works for soprano and one instrumental part, usually piano. She was also committed to spreading the world language Esperanto and was involved in the visual arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When B\u00e9by Kohl-Thommes died in 2016 at the age of 93, a long and varied life lay behind her: as a soprano, violinist, teacher, composer and painter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Text and curation of the webpage:<\/em> Marvin J. Deitz<\/em><\/em> (Upload 22.4.2024)<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t