Geneviève Joy (; 4 October 1919 – 27 November 2009) was a French classical and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

pianist who, at the end of World War II in 1945, formed a critically acclaimed duo-piano partnership with Jacqueline Robin which lasted for forty-five years, until 1990. The composer

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...

, whom she married in 1946, dedicated his ''

Piano Sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

'' to her, which she recorded for

Erato Records Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Erato Disques S.A. by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Bo ...

in 1988. A native of the small commune of Bernaville in the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

department in Northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

region of

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

, she was the daughter of Lina Breton from Bernaville and her Irish husband Charles Joy who served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during World War I. Geneviève Joy was a piano

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

who was accepted to the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

in 1932 at the age of 12. In 1982, she served on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition.Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition “Winners, members of the jury and artistic guests”
/ref> She died in her sleep at a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

hospital eight weeks after her 90th birthday.

References

External links

* of Gabriel Fauré's Dolly Suite, together with Jacqueline Robin. *
Genevieve Joy
– Daily Telegraph obituary 1919 births 2009 deaths People from Somme (department) 20th-century French women classical pianists Classical piano duos Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the École Normale de Musique de Paris Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French women music educators Erato Records artists Henri Dutilleux {{classical-pianist-stub