Jean-Henri Ravina par Marie-Alexandre Alophe

Jean-Henri Ravina (20 May 181830 September 1906) was a French virtuoso

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. Jean-Henri Ravina started his musical studies with his mother, Eugénie Ravina, a famous professor in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He made his first public appearance performing works by

Friedrich Kalkbrenner Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (2–8 November 1785 – 10 June 1849), also known as ''Frédéric Kalkbrenner'', was a pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. German by birth, Kalkbrenner studied at the Conservatoire de ...

at the age of 8, and the violinist

Pierre Rode Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode (16 February 1774 – 25 November 1830) was a French violinist and composer. Life and career Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Pierre Rode traveled in 1787 to Paris and soon became a favourite pupil of the great Giov ...

, who was present at the concert, encouraged him to continue his musical studies. Ravina then went to Paris, where he attended the private musical school of Alkan Morhange (

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 Lisz ...

's father), later he entered the piano class of

Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman (17 March 178529 October 1853), known as Pierre Zimmermann and Joseph Zimmermann, was a French pianist, composer, and music teacher. Biography Zimmerman was born in Paris on March 19, 1785, as the son of a piano ...

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 ...

. He also studied counterpoint with

Anton Reicha Anton (Antonín, Antoine) Joseph Reicha (Rejcha) (26 February 1770 – 28 May 1836) was a Czech-born, Bavarian-educated, later naturalized French composer and music theorist. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, he is now best reme ...

and

Aimé Leborne Aimé Ambroise Simon Leborne (or Aimé Le Borne) (29 December 1797 – 2 April 1866) was a Belgium-born French composer and music educator, who made his career in Paris. Life Born in Brussels, Leborne was the son of an actor and spent his youth i ...

there. In 1834 he received a first prize for piano performance. The 17-year-old Ravina became assistant to a professor at the Conservatory, but he resigned two years later to devote himself to his career as a virtuoso. He became a touring pianist, with performances in France, Spain and Russia. His whirlwind tours were highly acclaimed, and his compositions were immensely popular with his fans. At the same time he acquired an excellent reputation as a music teacher.

Music

Ravina published several pieces for piano: etudes, concertos, rondos, divertimentos, variations and fantasies. He also made a transcription of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's symphonies for piano four-hands. * Chanson joyeuse, op 99 (Publisher: BMI, 1941, arrangement by Teddy Raph) Ravina was named as

Chevalier of the Legion of Honor 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 B ...

in 1861. Charles-Valentin Alkan and

Antoine François Marmontel 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, where he taught many musicians who became ...

, famous French pianists, were his good friends.

Sources

External links

Free scores by Jean-Henri Ravina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravina, Jean-Henri 1818 births 1906 deaths 19th-century French male classical pianists French composers French male composers French music educators Piano pedagogues Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur