Duo Crommelynck was the name of a notable classical piano duo team active from 1974 to 1994. It consisted of the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Patrick Crommelynck and his

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese-born wife Taeko Kuwata. In 1994, at the height of their fame, they each took their own life.

Biographies

Patrick Crommelynck was born in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1945, Taeko Kuwata in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 1947. Patrick studied with

Stefan Askenase Stefan Askenase (10 July 189618 October 1985) was a Polish-Belgian classical pianist and pedagogue. Biography Askenase was born in Lviv, then known as Lemberg, into a Jewish family. At the age of five he began playing the piano with his mothe ...

at the Brussels Conservatory, with

Victor Merzhanov Victor Karpovich Merzhanov (russian: Ви́ктор Ка́рпович Мержа́нов) (15 August 191920 December 2012) was a Russian pianist and People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Biography Merzhanov was born in Tambov and studied at Tamb ...

at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

, and with Dieter Weber in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he met Taeko Kuwata, who was another of Weber's students. They married and formed their duo in 1974. They came to attention with their two-piano version of

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

's 4th Symphony. They achieved considerable praise and recognition and were considered one of the world's leading piano duos. They toured widely and a number of composers wrote works for them. These included

André Tchaikowsky André Tchaikowsky (also Andrzej Czajkowski; born Robert Andrzej Krauthammer; November 1, 1935June 26, 1982) was a Polish composer and pianist. Life and career Robert Andrzej Krauthammer was born in Warsaw in 1935 into a Jewish family. He had s ...

's ''Invention 5b'', dedicated to Patrick, and another André Tchaikowsky composition Tango and then Mazurka were arranged for the duo. Duo Crommelynck made a number of recordings for the Swiss

Claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony o ...

label. They recorded music by Auric,

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

, Dvořák, Fauré, Messager,

Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

, Smetana,

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...

, and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

. These included 2-piano arrangements of Tchaikovsky's ''Pathétique'' Symphony, Dvořák's ''New World'' Symphony, and Smetana's ''Vltava'' from

Má vlast ''Má vlast'' (), also known as ''My Fatherland'', is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. The six pieces, conceived as individual works, are often presented and recorded as a single ...

. Their three-disc set of the four-hand piano works of Schubert won a

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

from the

Académie Charles Cros The Académie Charles Cros (Charles Cros Academy) is an organization located in Chézy-sur-Marne, France, that acts as an intermediary between government cultural policy makers and professionals in music and the recording industry. The academy is ...

. They also recorded an entire CD of fragments and unfinished pieces by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Suicides

During the weekend of 9–10 July 1994, at the height of their joint careers, they took their own lives in

after an apparent crisis in their relationship. Patrick hanged himself first and his body was discovered by Taeko, who also decided to end her own life in the same way. Their bodies were discovered on Monday 11 July. The Athénée Royal de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, a Brussels school founded in 1956, was renamed ''Athénée Royal Crommelynck, de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre'' after their deaths, in commemoration not only of them but also of other famous Crommelyncks, including the dramatist

Fernand Crommelynck Fernand Crommelynck (19 November 1886 – 17 March 1970) was a Belgian dramatist. His work is known for farces in which commonplace weaknesses are developed into monumental obsessions. Biography He was born into a family of actors, the child ...

.Athénée Royal Crommelynck, de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
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Sources

Answers.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duo Crommelynck 1945 births Kuwata, Taeko 1994 suicides 1994 deaths Belgian classical pianists Kuwata, Taeko Classical piano duos Suicides by hanging in Belgium Moscow Conservatory alumni Married couples Musical groups established in 1974 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Japanese musicians