Gaby Casadesus (August 9, 1901 – November 12, 1999) was a French classical

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 ...

and teacher born in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. She was married to the French pianist

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 their son

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

was also a notable pianist.

Biography

Born Gabrielle l'Hôte, 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

Louis Diémer Louis Joseph Diémer (14 February 1843 – 21 December 1919) was a French pianist and composer. He was the founder of the Société des Instruments Anciens in the 1890s, and also gave recitals on the harpsichord. His output as a composer was exte ...

and

Marguerite Long Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. Life Early life: 1874–1900 Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoin ...

and was awarded the first prize in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at age 16. She met

Claude 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 ...

at this time, as he was the judge for one of her competitions. She was also friendly with Debussy's daughter Claude-Emma who died soon after of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

. Gaby later won the Prix Pagès, which was the most prestigious award in France at the time for which women were eligible. In 1921, she married the pianist Robert Casadesus and with him formed the Robert and Gaby Casadesus duo. The duo made many recordings of the four-hand piano repertoire. However, Gaby was also a significant soloist. She knew

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

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' (Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of the ...

and

Moritz Moszkowski Moritz Moszkowski (23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German Confederation, German composer, pianist, and teacher of History of Jews in Poland, Polish-Jewish descent.

, and her interpretations were aided by their guidance. Her repertoire also included

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

, whose music she effectively championed, and the keyboard composers of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era. As a teacher, Gaby Casadesus taught in the US, at the

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Moz ...

, at the Académie Maurice Ravel in

Saint-Jean de Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune

American Conservatoire at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

. Among her notable pupils are

Donna Amato Donna Marie Amato (born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist. She teaches at University of Pittsburgh. Life Amato studied under the renowned teacher and virtuoso, Ozan Marsh throughout her early musical training. After receiving ...

, David Deveau,

Rudy Toth Rudy Toth (16 December 1925 – 9 July 2009) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and cimbalom player of Czech birth. As a composer he wrote works mainly for television and the radio, working frequently for the Canadian ...

, and

Vladimir Valjarević Vladimir Valjarević (born 1973, Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia), is a Serbian/American concert pianist and pedagogue, currently residing in New York City, United States. Career Valjarevic is on the piano faculty at the Mannes Sc ...

. After her husband's death in 1972, she worked with

Grant Johannesen Grant Johannesen (July 30, 1921 – March 27, 2005) was an American pianist. Biography Johannesen was born in Salt Lake City and discovered at the age of five by a teacher who lived across the street. He imitated whatever he heard her play, a ...

and Odette Valabrègue Wurtzburger, to found the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition, which in 1994 became the

Cleveland International Piano Competition The Cleveland International Piano Competition is an American piano competition that takes place biennially in Cleveland, Ohio. The initial Competition in 1975 and the nine others that followed were sponsored jointly by the Robert Casadesus Society ...

. Casadesus died November 12, 1999, at age 98 in Paris. She is buried with her husband and son, Jean in

Recloses Recloses () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Reclosiots''. See also *Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department The following is a li ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne (river), Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square ...

, approximately southeast of Paris.

References

1901 births 1999 deaths 20th-century French women classical pianists Conservatoire de Paris alumni Gaby {{classical-pianist-stub