Hélène de Montgeroult
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Hélène de Nervo de Montgeroult (2 March 1764 – 20 May 1836) was a French pianist and composer.
Career
She was born into an aristocratic family in Lyon and studied piano with Nicolas-Joseph Hüllmandel and Jan Ladislav Dussek. She married the Marquis de Montgeroult who died as an Austrian prisoner in 1793.
Reportedly it was respect for her compositions that allowed her to survive the French Reign of Terror.[1] A set of improvisations on La Marseillaise, performed for the Committee of Public Safety, earned de Montgeroult her freedom after she was imprisoned in the Revolution due to her aristocratic background.[2] After her husband's death, Montgeroult took a position at the new Paris Conservatoire in 1795, the first female professor ever to be appointed there[3] and taught for two years. Afterwards she published two volumes of music.[4][5]
She died in Florence, Italy.
Legacy
Her life and musical works were reviewed on the BBC Radio 3 series Composer of the Week on 11-15 July 2022. Donald Macleod presented the programmes with recordings, some of them specially commissioned, alongside contributions by the pianist Clare Hammond.[6]
Published works
- Trois sonatas pour le forte-piano, Op. 1 (Paris, 1795).
- Trois sonatas pour le forte-piano (avec accompagnement de violon pour le 3e Sonate), Op. 2 (Paris, 1800; surviving edition 1803).
- Pièce pour le forte piano, Op. 3 (Paris, 1804).
- Fantaisies, nos. 1, 2, 3 [Op. 4?] (Paris, [1810?]).
- Trois sonatas pour le forte-piano, Op. 5 (Paris, 1811).
- Six nocturnes à voix seule avec accompagnement de piano-forte, Op. 6 (Paris, [by 1807].
- Cours complet pour l'enseignement du forte-piano, 3 vols (Paris, 1820). Contains 972 exercises and 114 études.
Selected recordings
- Hélène de Montgeroult, La Marquise et la Marseillaise, Éditions Hortus (CD, 2008).
- Études nos. 97, 110, etc., on Hélène de Montgeroult: A la source du piano romantique", Hortus (CD, 2009).
- Hélène de Montgeroult, Orchid Classics (CD, 2017).
- Hélène de Montgeroult : The Complete Piano Sonatas, Naxos – Grand Piano Records (2CD, 2021).
References
- ^ Presto Classical
- ^ Jérôme Dorival, notes to Orchid Classics CD Hélène de Montgeroult (2017); "M comme Montgeroult", in Improvisation so piano, Jean-Pierre Thiollet (Magland: Neva Éditions, 2017), p 79–82. ISBN 978-2-35055-228-6
- ^ Dorival (2017)
- ^ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ Bowers, Jane; Tick, Judith (1987). Women making music: the Western art tradition, 1150-1950. University of Illinois Press. p. 199. ISBN 9780252014703. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ^ Radio Times 9-15 July 2022
External links
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- 1764 births
- 1836 deaths
- 18th-century classical composers
- 18th-century French composers
- 18th-century women composers
- 19th-century classical composers
- 19th-century French composers
- 19th-century women composers
- Conservatoire de Paris faculty
- French classical composers
- French women classical composers
- French music educators
- Musicians from Lyon
- Women music educators
- 18th-century French women classical pianists
- 19th-century French women classical pianists