History

Herman Bemberg Ocampo, heir to German industrial brewer Don Otto Peter Bemberg and Argentinian Doña María Luisa Ocampo y Regueira, was born in Paris in 1859. His family lived between Paris and Buenos Aires but Herman, resolved to pursue his career as a musician, would soon move permanently to Europe and became a student at the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance. He would graduate in music with a master’s degree in composition and piano with Jules Massenet, George Bizet, Cesar Franck and Charles Gounod as his professors. He would swiftly gain international recognition in 1884 after receiving, at only 25 years of age, an accessit at the Rossini International Awards for Composers, given by the French Institute. He would receive the support of his own professors, who were also part of the jury. As an established composer, Le Figaro would then call him “le chérubin des salons”, referencing his precocious reputation.

He composed several chamber melodies for solo voice and piano, including his dramatic piece Ballade du Desespere and his Chant Hindou. He composed piano pieces, which included the cantata La Mort de Jeanne d’Arc (1886), his comedy opera Le Baiser de Suzon (1888), and his great opera Elaine (1892), based on a poem written by Tennyson, which premiered successfully at the Covent Garden in London. It was performed by famous vocalists, such as legendary Australian prima donna Nellie Melba. After the opening, the London Times would publish: “Seldom has a new opera being sung by so fine a group of singers”. Nellie Melba was a great friend of his, with whom he recorded several albums filled with piano-accompanied songs. He was a man with much sense of humour, and in Villa Luisa he would often welcome regal personalities from the music, art and literature scenes of the time, such as Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba or the writer searching of lost time, Marcel Proust. Herman Bemberg died in Berna in 1931.