Ernest Ansermet Biography: Education, Wife, Age, Height, Children, Books, Net Worth

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet, known professionally as Ernest Ansermet, was a Swiss conductor, mathematician, and music theorist who founded and led the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for half a century.

Renowned for his precise interpretations of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel, he premiered dozens of 20th-century masterworks and championed contemporary composers while maintaining crystalline fidelity to scores.

Profile

• Full Name: Ernest Alexandre Ansermet
• Stage Name: Ernest Ansermet
• Born: 11, November 1883
• Date of death: 20, February 1969 (Aged: 85 years old)
• Birthplace: Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland
• Nationality: Swiss
• Occupation: Conductor, Music Theorist, and Educator
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Mr. Ansermet and Mrs. Ansermet
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Marguerite Ansermet
• Children: Jean Ansermet, François Ansermet
• Relationship: Married
• Net Worth: Unknown

Early Life and Education

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was born on November 11, 1883, in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. His parents’ names remain private. He studied mathematics at the University of Lausanne and taught there from 1906 to 1909.

Meanwhile, he taught himself harmony and counterpoint while playing viola in local groups. Guidance from conductors like Ernest Bloch and private lessons in Berlin with Arthur Nikisch led him to pursue conducting. Raised Swiss and Protestant, he later distanced himself from organized religion.

Career

Ernest Ansermet began his career as a mathematics professor while conducting amateur orchestras in Lausanne and Montreux.

His professional breakthrough came in 1915 when he succeeded Otto Klemperer at the Kursaal in Montreux, rapidly gaining notice for lucid performances of Wagner and Strauss.

In 1918 he founded the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, transforming a modest ensemble into a world-class orchestra through rigorous rehearsal and innovative programming.

Close collaboration with Igor Stravinsky began that same year; Ansermet conducted the premieres of L’Histoire du soldat, Pulcinella, and Les Noces, becoming the composer’s most trusted interpreter outside Russia.

From the 1920s through the 1950s Ansermet guest-conducted major orchestras worldwide—Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, NHK Symphony—while anchoring the OSR’s identity in French repertoire.

He premiered works by Honegger, Martinů, and Britten, and recorded extensively for Decca, producing benchmark cycles of Debussy and Ravel that remain reference standards.

His book Les Fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine (1961) applied mathematical logic to tonal perception, influencing musicology.

Ansermet retired from the OSR in 1967 after 50 seasons, having conducted over 3,000 concerts and 200 commercial recordings.

His insistence on textual fidelity, rhythmic exactitude, and timbral transparency set a lasting template for Swiss orchestral playing. The OSR continues to honor his legacy through the Ansermet Studio and archival releases.

Social Media

• Ernest Ansermet has no social media accounts.

Personal Life

Ernest Ansermet married Marguerite Gay, a pianist, in 1916; the couple had two sons—Jean, who became an engineer, and François, a noted psychiatrist and university professor.

The family lived quietly in Geneva, where Ansermet pursued interests in philosophy, linguistics, and chess. He maintained lifelong friendships with Stravinsky, Ramuz, and Ansermet’s literary circle.

In later years he suffered from heart ailments but continued writing and occasional conducting until shortly before his death on February 20, 1969, in Geneva.

Net Worth

Ernest Ansermet left no documented net worth. As a salaried conductor and academic in mid-20th-century Europe, his income derived from OSR contracts, guest appearances, recording royalties with Decca, and book sales.

No estate valuation was ever publicized, and classical musicians of his era rarely accumulated substantial personal wealth.