France Clidat (Nantes, 22 November 1932 – Paris, 17 May 2012) was a French

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

renowned for her interpretations of the works of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, a great many of which she recorded, and

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

, whose complete piano works she recorded.

Biography

In 1948, at age 15, France Clidat played

Henri Sauguet Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...

's Concerto in A minor in Geneva under the conductor

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Ansermet ...

. She studied 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 ...

with

Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy, also hyphenated as Lazare-Lévy, (18 January 188220 September 1964) was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedagogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe Europe is a large peninsu ...

Maurice Hewitt Maurice Hewitt (6 October 1884 – 7 November 1971) was a French violinist and conductor, as well as a member of the French Resistance during World War II. Life Born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Hewitt studied the violin at the Conservatoire de Paris ...

Alexis Roland-Manuel Alexis Roland-Manuel (22 March 18911 November 1966) was a French composer and critic, remembered mainly for his criticism. Biography He was born Roland Alexis Manuel Lévy in Paris, to a family of Belgian and Jewish origins. He studied composi ...

Norbert Dufourcq Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq (21 September 1904 – 19 December 1990) was a French organist, music educator, musicologist and musicographer. Biography Norbert Dufourcq was born in 1904 in Saint-Jean-de-Braye in the Loiret department o ...

, and Robert SiohanLarousse.fr
/ref> and received first prize in piano in 1950, at the age of 18.Answers.com
/ref> She later studied with

Emil Gilels Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (Russian: Эми́ль Григо́рьевич Ги́лельс; 19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was a Russian pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and educatio ...

and

Lélia Gousseau Lélia Gousseau (11 February 1909 – 14 February 1997) was a 20th-century French classical pianist. Biography Born in Paris, the daughter of pianist Fanny d'Almeida (disciple of Elie Delaborde) and organist William Gousseau (1870-1939), maîtr ...

. At the Budapest International Competition in September 1956, she won the Franz Liszt Prize, a prize that had not been awarded since 1937. She later performed in many venues around the world. After a recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris,

Bernard Gavoty Bernard Georges-Marie Gavoty (2 April 1908 – 24 October 1981) was a 20th-century French organist, musicologist, music critic, and talk show host. Biography Bernard Gavoty was born in 1908 to Raymond Gavoty (a deputy of the Var department; 11 Ma ...

, reviewer for ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'', dubbed her "Madame Liszt".Academies du Grand Nancy
She was also called "the Ambassadress of the French piano"3rd Rhodes International Piano Competition, 2008
and she was named alongside

Monique Haas Monique Haas (20 October 1909 – 9 June 1987) was a French pianist. Born in Paris, she studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Joseph Morpain and Lazare Lévy, taking a ''Premier Prix'' in 1927. She went on to study with Rudolf Serkin and Rob ...

Cécile Ousset Cécile Ousset (born 23 January 1936) is a French pianist. Cécile Ousset was born in Tarbes, France, and gave her first recital at the age of five, subsequently studying at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 10 with Marcel Ciampi (who had fo ...

Robert Casadesus Robert Marcel Casadesus (7 April 1899 – 19 September 1972) was a renowned 20th-century French pianist and composer. He was the most prominent member of a distinguished musical family, being the nephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus, ...

and

Philippe Entremont Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical pianist and conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns and others. Early life Philippe Entremont was born in ...

as outstanding representatives of the French piano school. In the 1960s and 1970s, for ''Les Éditions Vega'', she recorded the following works of

for Decca: * Original works in the field of programme music (''

Années de pèlerinage ''Années de pèlerinage'' (French for ''Years of Pilgrimage'') ( S.160, S.161, S.162, S.163) is a set of three suites for solo piano by Franz Liszt. Much of it derives from his earlier work, ''Album d'un voyageur'', his first major published pi ...

'', ''Legends'' etc.) * Works of purely folkloristic character (the ''

Hungarian Rhapsodies The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rhapsodies hongroises, german: Ungarische Rhapsodien, hu, Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and late ...

'' and pieces generally in the form of dances, waltzes, mazurkas, polonaises, etc.) * Studies or exercises (various collections of the ''

Transcendental Études The ''Transcendental Études'' (french: Études d'exécution transcendante, links=no), S.139, are a set of twelve compositions for piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of an 1837 set (which had not borne the title "d' ...

'') * Original works in the field of pure music (the Sonata in B minor, ballads, nocturnes, etc.) * Transcriptions or paraphrases from operas or lieder. This project included a number of premiere recordings of Liszt's works (''Mephisto Waltzes'' Nos. 3 and 4, ''Valse oubliée'' No. 3, ''Mephisto Polka'', ''Mazurka brillante'', two ''Caprices-Valses'', two Csardas, ''Scherzo and March'', ''Marche solonelle in honour of Goethe'', Galop in A minor and two ''Albumblätter'') and it gained her the Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie Charles Cros and the Grand Prix de l'Académie Européenne du Disque. It is still claimed in various places that she recorded the "complete piano works of Liszt" and "Liszt's complete pianistic output",Liner notes to the Decca recordings but this can be shown not to be the case when her Liszt recordings (24 LPs, which were later transferred to 28 CDs) are compared with the 99 Liszt CDs recorded by

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' and was one ...

, which included over 300 premiere recordings. From 1980 she recorded for Forlane. France Clidat recorded the complete piano works of

, and works by

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, Grieg, Chopin,

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 ...

and

Marcel Landowski Marcel François Paul Landowski (18 February 1915 – 23 December 1999) was a French composer, biographer and arts administrator. Biography Born at Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère, Brittany, he was the son of French sculptor Paul Landowski and gre ...

. She taught at the

École Normale de Musique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sav ...

in Paris for a number of years, where she attracted many students from around the world. She also gave masterclasses in various countries, particularly

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 ...

. Clidat appeared as a juror at many important piano competitions, including the

Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition The Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition (in Spanish: Concurso Internacional de Piano de Santander "Paloma O'Shea") is a piano competition taking place in Santander, Spain. Founded in 1972 by Paloma O'Shea as a national prize, i ...

in Santander, International Franz Liszt Competition the 3rd International Rhodes Competition, and the

Francis 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 ...

Competition. She published articles about Liszt's solo piano music, such as "The Transcendental Studies: A Lisztian Pianist's Impressions" in ''New Light on Liszt and His Music'' (Walker, Saffle, Deaville) and "Aux sources littéraires de Franz Liszt", with Jeanne Fauré-Cousin, an entire double issue of ''La Révue musicale''. Many works were dedicated to France Clidat and

Bruno Rossignol Bruno Rossignol (born 1958 in Nanterre) is a French composer, choral conductor and conductor, pianist and music educator. Biography He studied music at the École normale de musique de Paris and the Sorbonne. He then directed choirs: first ...

wrote an ''Aria et Fugato sur le Nom de France Clidat''. Her playing of the Adagio from Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, was featured in the 2000 film '' Maelström''.Yahoo movies
/ref>

Honours

She was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1976 and a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite in 1987. She was also a Chevalier de la

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and received the Médaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris.

Death

France Clidat died on 17 May 2012, aged 79, and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clidat, France 1932 births 2012 deaths 20th-century French women classical pianists Musicians from Nantes Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the École Normale de Musique de Paris Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Women music educators