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), maître de chapelle at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet (1893-1938), Gousseau entered at a young age in the Conservatoire de Paris where she won a first prize in piano in the class of Lazare-Lévy (1925) - who regarded her as one of her best disciples along with her contemporary Monique Haas - as well as a first prize in Music History in Maurice Emmanuel's class (1926)
Récipient of the Claire Pagès Prize (1928), laureate of the International Chopin Piano Competition of Warsaw (1937), Gousseau also received the Albert Roussel Prize (1939), a composer of whom she was the privileged performer (even today, her recordings of the Concerto, the Suite Op. 14, the three Pieces Op. 49 etc. are authoritative)
Soloist with major national and international ensembles (debut with the orchestras of Boston, New York and Philadelphia in 1952), Gousseau particularly distinguished herself in the French music of her time: Chausson, Dukas, Ohana, Schmitt, creating, in particular, the Passacaille by Marcel Mihalovici (Op. 105) and the étude Pour les sonorités de la main gauche by Henri Martelli, two pieces of which she was the dedicatee - although she played and recorded Brahms, Chopin, Schumann and Falla.
Lélia Gousseau taught at the Conservatoire de Paris (1961-1978) as well as at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where her teaching was distinguished above all by an extreme attention paid to fingering, pedalling, deep playing and legato. Anne Queffélec, Émile Naoumoff, Jean-Pierre Ferey, Maria Tortelier-de la Pau, Alain Raës, Pascal Devoyon and Kaoki Kimura were among her numerous pupils.
She toured South Africa in 1954 and 1957.[1]
Gousseau died in Paris at age 88.
References
External links
- Lélia Gousseau's discography on Discogs
- Lélia Gousseau on revuepiano.com
- Lélia Gousseau plays Dukas -- Variations, Interlude and Finale on a Theme by Rameau (YouTube)
- Letter of Lélia Gousseau to Marc Pincherle, Paris, 5 May 1963 on Gallica
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- French women classical pianists
- French classical pianists
- Conservatoire de Paris alumni
- Academics of the Conservatoire de Paris
- Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
- 1909 births
- Musicians from Paris
- 1997 deaths
- 20th-century classical pianists
- 20th-century French women musicians
- Women music educators