Lazare Lévy

Lazare Lévy (born January 18, 1882 in Brussels , † September 20, 1964 in Paris ) was a French pianist, music teacher and composer.

Lévy studied piano with Louis Diémer at the Conservatoire de Paris , from which he graduated in 1898 with a first prize. He also studied harmony with Albert Lavignac and counterpoint with André Gedalge . His fellow students and musical partners at this time included Alfredo Casella , Alfred Cortot , George Enescu , Pierre Monteux , Maurice Ravel and Jacques Thibaud .

In 1902 he made his debut at the Concerts Colonne under the direction of its founder Édouard Colonne with Schumann's Piano Concerto. In the following years Lévy played several world premieres of works by contemporary composers such as Paul Dukas , Darius Milhaud and in particular Camille Saint-Saëns , whose piano works (especially the fifth piano concerto) he made known throughout Europe. In 1911 he played the first volume of Isaac Albéniz ' Iberia . The young pianist was on friendly terms with older colleagues such as Harold Bauer , Ignatz Paderewski , and Francis Planté .

In 1907 Lévy was co-author of a piano school edited by Diémer. He taught at the Conservatoire for a long time: first from 1914 to 1916 and from 1921 to 1923 as a temporary teacher, then as Cortot's successor from 1923 to 1941 and again from 1944 to 1953. His students included musicians such as the pianists Agnelle Bundervoët and Monique Haas , Clara Haskil , Alexander Uninski and Madeleine de Valmalète , the organist Marcel Dupré and the composers John Cage , Lukas Foss and Oskar Morawetz .

As a concert pianist Lévy has performed all over Europe, Africa and Asia. He was the first French pianist to perform the works of Scriabin and was one of the first pianists to seriously examine Schubert's piano works in the 20th century . He has performed under conductors such as Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht , Dimitri Mitropoulos , Pierre Monteux , Charles Munch , Paul Paray and Felix Weingartner and was friends with Edwin Fischer , André Marchal , Sergei Rachmaninoff , the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and André Malraux .

During the German occupation of France, Lévy lived underground, his son Philippe, who was active in the Resistance , was taken prisoner by Germany and died in Auschwitz.

Lévy composed a number of works for piano, for organ and for chamber music ensembles as well as an opera. He made only a few recordings, including Mozart's sonatas . A humorous performance of Wagner's Tannhauser Overture on the piano using a shoe brush was never recorded.

Works

• Berceuse for piano
• Ecossaises for piano
• Enfantines for piano
• Etudes brèves for piano
• Habanera for piano
• Sonatina for flute and piano
• Sans Octaves for piano
• 20 preludes for piano
• Adagio for organ
• Allegro molto for organ
• Humoresque for cello and piano
• Mazurka for violin and piano
• Nocturne for violin and piano
• Romance for cello and piano

Web link

• Short biography and audio samples on forte-piano-pianissimo.com (English)