André Rieu Family Visit in Marseille

Family Visit in Marseille

Limburger, Nov. 2, 2012 by Mirthe Smeets: Last week André Rieu and his orchestra performed in Marseille. That is no coincidence, because André's brother Robert lives in Marseille. In early days André Rieu's parents owned a country house in France, where André and his brother Robert assisted the construction work. They fell in love with the country and the food and they studied the language. André: "We also learned a lot from the French comic TinTin. I can still tell you how to say in French, Thousand bombs and grenades". 

Robert Rieu said good bye to Maastricht and decided to stay in the country of his ancestors. (Rieu is originally a French name, but they don't know of them any more). André remained in Maastricht. "People often ask me why I don't live abroad, but I love the quietness of Maastricht. I like to stay in my own city. Coming back from a tour I love to see everything familiar and nice and I'll never leave Maastricht. I am often abroad for my work and I love the variety. Every city has its own charms". The musician still loves France. "The people are good music connoisseurs and they appreciate the concerts enormously". 

Pierre André Robert

When André is in France, he'll also go to Marseille, where Robert lives. "Of course we'll never skip this city in our French tours. Then I can have a nice chat with my brother and his family and eat a good bouillabaisse, (which is the specialty of the city.) I miss my brother, although we often call or mail. 

Last April the yearly reunion in the harbor city of Marseille was cancelled (like 20 other concerts) because of André's health problems. In a talk show on Dutch TV with Pauw and Witteman, André had said that he was overworked, and exhausted, which effected his balancing problems again. Two years ago he had suffered from an infection in his inner ear and the same problem started again. Then he had to realize that he was a human being of flesh and blood, who could not go on like this forever. "That was a shock, but I learned from that. Earlier I did not take time to work out and that's nonsense. Now I make time, and I eat healthy food". Pierre adds, "My father does not give any live interviews any more prior to a concert. Our team observes him. We prevent him to do unnecessary things like receptions, premieres and VIP performances". 

André, "I need to be more quiet, I now know that I have to listen to my body and not doing too much". 

Pierre, "Everyone has his own signals. My father has to take care of his equilibrium. As soon as he feels a little light in the head, we'll immediately pull the brake". 

The concert schedule does not show as very quiet! Dozens of performances per month! "That's what my father loves most, being on stage", says Pierre. "Entertain people with music. I think he'll go on till he drops dead. To stop is no option. We just finished the planning for next year". We bet the tickets are sold already. 

The fans in Marseille are cheering. In the hall are also admirers from other countries. Rieu stays down to earth. "I always said that millions of people love this music, that will always remain the same". He adds, "When I am back in Maastricht in awhile, I will have to charge myself for the next tours of this year through the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium. In the meantime we are creating new plans". The orchestra is and will remain an addicting and dangerous passion for Rieu. 

André and Robert

He feels good in Marseille. He is joking, teasing the audience and winking once in a while to his brother Robert who is in the hall. Although the French people would like to keep him (and he fully fits in the country with his two French names) he'll leave to the northern direction with the French TinTin under his arm and in his suitcase some Bouillabaisse for Marjorie, up to Maastricht, the city with also a lot of French influences: the city of d'Artagnan!

Thanks to Ineke for Translating and sending this.