�douard Lalo was born in Lille, in northernmost France. He attended that city’s music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, he studied at the Paris Consevatoire under Belioz�s old enemy Francois Antoine Habeneck. For several years, he worked as a string player and teacher in Paris. He joined with friends to found of the Armingaud Quartet, playing viola and second violin. His earliest surviving compositions are songs and chamber works. (Two early symphonies were destroyed.) Julie Besnier de Maligny, a contralto from Brittany, became his bride in 1865. Lalo’s new wife aroused his early interest in opera and led him to compose works for the stage. Unfortunately, they were deemed too progressive and Wagnerian and were not initially well received despite their freshness and originality. This led him to dedicate most of his career to the composition of chamber music, which was in vogue, and to writing works for orchestra. Lalo did not gain fame as a composer until his late forties. However, his imagination and the desire to compose new music were diminishing. He died in Paris at age 69, leaving several unfinished works. Although Lalo is not one of the most immediately recognized names in French music, his distinctive style has earned him some degree of popularityLalo’s style is notable for strong melodies and colourful orchestration, with a rather Germanic solidity that sets him apart from most of his compatriots. Lalo’s son Pierre Lalo (6 September 1866 - 9 June 1943) was a music critic who wrote for Le Temps and other French periodicals from 1898 until his death. Arranged from an orchestral record for Concert Wind Band.