Stamaty, Camille (-Marie)
Stamaty, Camille (-Marie)
Stamaty, Camille (-Marie), Graeco-French pianist, teacher, and composer; b. Rome, March 13?, 1811; d. Paris, April 19, 1870. He was of Greek-French origin; his mother, a Frenchwoman, educated him after the death of his father in 1818, and took him to Paris, where he became a pupil of Kalkbrenner; in 1836 he went to Leipzig, where he studied with Mendelssohn. He returned to Paris the next year and remained there as a pianist and teacher; among his students were Saint-Saëns and Gottschalk. He became well known as a champion of the music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. In 1862 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur. He wrote a Piano Concerto, which won the approbation of Schumann, as well as a Piano Trio, various works for piano, including a Sonata, variations, and solo pieces, and a number of didactic works.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire