Philipp, Isidor
Philipp, Isidor
Philipp, Isidor, eminent French pianist and pedagogue of Hungarian descent; b. Pest, Sept. 2, 1863; d. Paris, Feb. 20, 1958. He was taken to Paris as an infant. He studied piano with Georges Mathias at the Paris Cons., winning 1st prize in 1883, then took lessons with Saint– Saëns, Stephen Heller, and Ritter. His concert career was brief, but he found his true vocation in teaching. He was a prof, at the Paris Cons. (1893–1934), where he was mentor to many notable pupils, including Albert Schweitzer. In Paris he continued to perform, mostly in chamber music groups. He formed a concert trio with Loeb and Berthelier, with which he gave a number of successful concerts. After the outbreak of World War II, he went to the U.S., arriving in N.Y. in 1941; despite his advanced age he accepted private students, not only in N.Y., but also in Montreal. At the age of 91, he played the piano part in Franck’s Violin Sonata (N.Y., March 20, 1955); then returned to France.
He publ, some technical studies for piano, among them Exercises journaliers, École d’octaves, Problèmes techniques, Études techniques basées sur une nouvelle manière de travailler, and La Gamme chromatique. He made arrangements for 2 pianos of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Saint–Saëns, and others, and also brought out La Technique de Liszt (2 vols., Paris, 1932).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire