Alfred Cortot

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Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot (born September 26, 1877 in Nyon , † June 15, 1962 in Lausanne ) was a French pianist , piano teacher , composer , conductor and music writer of Swiss origin. He is considered one of the most significant and influential personalities in the musical life of the 20th century.

Life

Alfred Cortot with Jacques Thibaud

After the son of a Swiss mother and a French father initially failed the entrance exam, Cortot received extensive training at the Paris Conservatory with a focus on piano. His interest in Richard Wagner led to an invitation as a répétiteur at the Bayreuth Festival in 1897 .

His preference as a pianist was the works of the Romantic period, especially the music of Chopin , Richard Wagner , Schumann , Schubert , Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Liszt , whose works he wrote in the Éditions de travail (published by Salabert, Paris, and Curzi, Milan) with comments on Playing technique and interpretation published. Less known is Cortot's struggle for Beethoven. Between 1958 and 1960 he recorded all of Beethoven's piano sonatas up to three times. The recordings have not yet been officially released. On two evenings (October 8 and 12, 1943) he played all of Beethoven's piano concertos and the choral fantasy under the direction of Charles Münch in the Salle Pleyel in Paris, although Cortot had been known as a Beethoven virtuoso since 1896. Together with Pablo Casals , violoncello and Jacques Thibaud , violin, he formed one of the most famous piano trios of the 20th century from 1906 to 1933.

In 1919, together with Auguste Mangeot, he founded the École Normale de Musique in Paris, where not only his two trio partners taught as teachers, but also other well-known musicians such as B. Marcel Dupré , Marguerite Long , Blanche Selva , Charles Munch , Paul Dukas , Wanda Landowska , Nadia Boulanger . Numerous famous pianists were at times his students or received valuable suggestions from him. Representative are: Dinu Lipatti , Clara Haskil , Vlado Perlemuter , Yvonne Lefébure , Branka Musulin , Samson François , Hélène Boschi and Florence Delaage . The German-speaking students included Franz Josef Hirt (1899–1985), Günter Reinhold and Gregor Weichert .

In October 1928 Alfred Cortot founded the "orchester de Paris" (also Orchestra Symphonique de Paris) together with Ernest Ansermet and Louis Fourestier . However, after only a year he gave Pierre Monteux the sole direction of the orchestra. It existed until 1939.

Cortot was after the Second World War, a one-year professional ban (from April 1945 to April 1946) because he under the Vichy government held several posts, the German occupiers collaborated and performed during the Second World War (1942) in Germany, among others, with Wilhelm Furtwängler in Berlin. In October 1949 he was rehabilitated. Alfred Cortot rests with his ancestors in the small cemetery of Le Villars, a village near Tournus in the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne region. The job title on his grave slab is "musicien".

effect

Absolute fidelity to notes and works was not the focus for the pianist Cortot, but inspiration and magic sound. His piano art, which is highly praised by the most diverse pianists to this day, is recorded on numerous records. Many recordings have not yet been published, probably because they do not meet today's criteria for textual accuracy and correctness. A nearly complete, dated list of all recordings made by Cortot, including those not yet published, is from John Hunt. This book bears testimony to Cortot's endeavors well into old age to create the great masterpieces for piano. Perhaps it is the mixture of poetic subjectivism that characterized Cortot's playing and uncompromising submission to the requirements of the work of art that continues to fascinate this musician. For the performance of Schumann's piano concerto in Hamburg in 1950, the surgeon and musician Ernst Kern wrote that no German pianist would have dared to play it so romantically. Cortot also worked as an important piano teacher - his students include many renowned pianists.

student

Fonts

  • Basic concepts of piano technique . [Grades]. Paris: Ed. Salabert 2007, ISBN 979-0-048-00026-1 , and as PDF
  • Chopin. Essence and shape , translated by Hanns von Winter. Atlantis Verlag, Zurich, 1960

literature

  • John Hunt: Pianists for the connoisseur . London, 2002, ISBN 1-901395-12-X .
  • Moritz von Bredow: Spirit made sound . Branka Musulin on her 100th birthday. A homage. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung v. August 14, 2017, p. 10.

Discography (selection)

Cortot as editor
Cortot as a pianist
  • Alfred Cortot - The Anniversary Edition . 40 CDs. Warner, 2012
  • Ludwig van Beethoven. Archduke Trio, Kreutzer Sonata, Magic Flute Variations . Jacques Thibaud, violin; Pablo Casals, cello; Alfred Cortot, piano. Naxos, Great Chamber Music Recordings.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Alfred Cortot (Piano, Conducor, Arranger) - Short Biography. Retrieved January 8, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b c Gerhard R. Koch: Right disposition in music: The collaborator at the piano . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 8, 2019]).
  3. ^ Alfred Cortot - Lessons for Life. Retrieved January 8, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Ernst Kern: Seeing - Thinking - Acting of a surgeon in the 20th century. ecomed, Landsberg am Lech 2000, ISBN 3-609-20149-5 , p. 25.
personal data
SURNAME Cortot, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss pianist and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Nyon
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1962
Place of death Lausanne