François Habeneck

François Antoine Habeneck (22 January 1781 – 8 February 1849) was a French classical violinist and conductor. Early life Habeneck was born at Mézières, the son of a musician in a French regimental band. During his early youth, Habeneck was taught by his father, and at the age of ten played concertos in public. In 1801, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied under Pierre Baillot and obtained the violin first prize in 1804. In the same year, he joined the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique, but shortly afterwards moved to that of the Paris Opera. He conducted student concerts at the Conservatoire from 1806 onwards. Career at the Paris Opera On 1 June 1817, Habeneck became an assistant conductor (chef d’orchestre adjoint) of the Paris Opera, a post he held until 1 January 1819, when he was replaced by J.-J. Martin. On 1 April 1820, on a trial basis, Henri Valentino replaced J.-J. Martin as second conductor (deuxième chef d’orchestre, à titre d’essai), but in August, Valentino and Habeneck were jointly designated successors to Rodolphe Kreutzer, the first conductor (premier chef d’orchestre), only to take effect, however, when Kreutzer left that position. In the meantime,