Helene de Montgeroult

Helene Montgeroult (1764 - 1836) was a French Compositrice.

Compositrice under the Empire, it was the pupil of Jan Ladislav Dussek and Muzio Clementi. It belongs to these many pianists who marked the 18th century.

The case of Helene Montgeroult is at the very least atypical. Born with Lyon under the name of Helene de Nervo, it became the woman of the marquis de Montgeroult then of the count de Charnage. First named woman piano teacher to the Conservatory of Paris, it played with many virtuosos of her time and became familiar of Madam de Staël. In 1793, under the mode of Terror, it was shown of treason and was condemned to the Guillotine. It survived thanks to his/her friend and founder of the academy of Paris, Bernard Sarrette, who explained to the revolutionary Tribunal that the death of Madam de Montgeroult would deprive France of one of the largest pianists of the moment. For proof, one made come a piano and she improvised on the Marseillaise in a way so convincing that one slackened it at once.

She will compose in particular during her career of many sonatas, but its philosopher's stone remains masterly a complete Cours for the teaching of the Pianoforte in 1820. She begins the drafting of this reference book, always of topicality in the academies, since 1795 and includes 972 exercises and 114 progressive studies there. Twenty years before Mendelssohn, Chopin or Schumann, its musical works are attractive and announce the romanticism.

There unfortunately to date exists only very few editions of its works and the discography is quasi null.

Discography

The Marchioness and the Marseillaise. Studies, Imagination, Sonata & Running away. Bruno Robilliard, piano. Hortus, 2006

References

Jerome Dorival. Helene de Montgeroult. The Marchioness and the Marseillaise. Symmetry, 2006

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