Marmontel, Antoine-François

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Marmontel, Antoine-François

Marmontel, Antoine-François, celebrated French pedagogue and pianist, father of Antonin Emile Louis Corbaz Marmontel; b. Clermont-Ferrand, July 16, 1816; d. Paris, Jan. 17, 1898. He studied at the Paris Cons, with Zimmerman (piano), Dourlen (harmony), Halévy (fugue), and Le Sueur (composition), winning the premier prix for piano in 1832. In 1837 he became instructor in solfeggio at the Cons. In 1848 he succeeded Zimmerman as head of its piano class, and won enduring fame as an imaginative and efficient teacher, numbering among his pupils Albéniz, Bizet, Debussy, Di-emer, dlndy, Dubois, Pierne, and Plante. He continued to teach until 1887. He wrote numerous didactic works for piano, as well as sonatas, serenades, characteristic pieces, salon music, dances, etc.

Writings

(all publ, in Paris): L’art classique et moderne du piano (1876); Les Pianistes célèbres (1878); Symphonistes et virtuoses (1880); Virtuoses contemporains (1882); Elements d’esthétique musicale, et considérations sur le beau dans les arts (1884); Histoire du piano et de ses origines (1885).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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