Antoine François Marmontel () (18 July 1816 – 16 January 1898) was a French pianist, composer, teacher and musicographer. He is mainly known today as an influential teacher at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, where he taught many musicians who became leading voices of French music in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Life and career

Marmontel was born in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attrac ...

. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1827. His teachers were Pierre Zimmerman in pianoforte, Victor Dourlen in

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

, Jacques Fromental Halévy in

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the co ...

and

Jean-François Le Sueur Jean-François Le Sueur (more commonly Lesueur; ) (15 February 17606 October 1837) was a French composer, best known for his oratorios and operas. Life He was born at Plessiel, a hamlet of Drucat near Abbeville, to a long-established family of ...

in composition. He achieved a First Prize for his piano playing (1832). In 1837, he became professor of singing at the Conservatory. In 1846, Marmontel married Françoise Mélanie Pelletier, and in 1848 Marmontel succeeded Zimmerman as professor of piano, beating his former teacher

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Li ...

, and as a consequence derailing the latter's career. His memoir of Alkan in his book ''Les Pianistes célèbres'' is nonetheless one of the most valuable sources for Alkan's biography. Marmontel achieved renown as an effective and imaginative teacher. He had many pupils including Isaac Albéniz,

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, Louis Diémer,

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Rome in 1861. He bec ...

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, Gustave Gagnon, Ernest Guiraud,

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

, Albert Lavignac, Marguerite Long,

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, Zulema Garcia Olsen,

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, Gabriel Pierné, Francis Planté,

Paul Rougnon Paul-Louis Rougnon (24 August 1846 – 11 December 1934) was a French composer, pianist and music educator. Biography Paul Rougnon was born in Poitiers the son of Louis Rougnon and Claire Clotilde Robin. A student at the Lycée Bonaparte (now t ...

Paul Wachs Paul Étienne Victor Wachs (19 September 1851 – 6 July 1915) was a French composer, Organ (music), organist and pianist. He is most remembered for his Salon music, salon compositions for piano. Biography Born in Paris, Wachs was the son of the ...

, Józef Wieniawski, André Wormser, and

Antoine Simon Antoine Simon (1736 – 28 July 1794) was a shoemaker at Rue des Cordeliers in Paris and a member of the Club of the Cordeliers, representative of the Paris Commune. He was born in Troyes, France to François Simon and Marie-Jeanne Adenet. On 3 ...

.Henseler (2004). Marmontel's career is marked by a great number of educational works (more than 200

opus number In musicology, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositi ...

s) as well as nocturnes, romances and many other pieces. His musicographical works number among the best sources for the history of piano and pianists, particularly for the 19th century. Marmontel died in Paris aged 81. His son Antonin Marmontel (1850–1907) was also a piano teacher at the Conservatoire. He wrote many salon pieces.

Selected works

Educational works

* ''Grammaire populaire de musique ou théorie raisonnée des principes'' (1840) * ''L'Art de déchiffrer (Cent études faciles)'' * ''École élémentaire de mécanisme et de style'' (1847) * ''Étude de mécanisme'' * ''Cinq études de salon'' * ''24 Études d'agilité et d'expression'', Op. 45 (1857) * ''École élémentaire et progressive de musique concertante. L'Art de déchiffrer à 2 mains'', Op. 60, 2 volumes (1862) * ''24 Grandes études de style et de bravoure'', Op. 85 (1866) * ''L'Art de déchiffrer à quatre mains. L'Art de déchiffrer à 4 mains'', Op. 111 (1872) * ''50 Études de salon'', Op. 108 (1875) * ''Enseignement progressif et rationnel du piano'', Op. 157 (1887)

Books

* ''L'Art classique et moderne du piano'', 2 volumes (1876) * ''Les Pianistes célèbres'' (1878) * ''Symphonistes et virtuoses'' (1881) * ''Virtuoses contemporains'' (1882) * ''Éléments d'esthétique musicale et considérations sur le beau dans les arts'' (1884) * ''Histoire du piano et de ses origines'' (1885)

Bibliography

* Patrick Bourgois: ''Antoine Marmontel (1816–1898). L'Homme et l'œuvre'' (PhD dissertation, Paris: Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1993).

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marmontel, Antoine Francois 1816 births 1898 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French male classical pianists 19th-century French composers 19th-century French musicologists Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Conservatoire de Paris alumni Conservatoire de Paris faculty French male classical composers French music educators French Romantic composers Musicians from Clermont-Ferrand Piano pedagogues Pupils of Fromental Halévy Pupils of Jean-François Le Sueur Pupils of Victor Dourlen Pupils of Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann Writers about music 19th-century musicologists