Georges Amédée Saint-Clair Mathias (; 14 October 182614 October 1910) was a French composer, pianist and teacher. Alongside his teaching work, Georges Mathias was a very active concert pianist.

Biography

Mathias was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He studied at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

with François Bazin, Auguste Barbereau, Augustin Savard and

Fromental Halévy Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy (; 27 May 179917 March 1862), was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera ''La Juive''. Early career Halévy was born in Paris, son of the cantor ...

. Privately, he studied composition with

Friedrich Kalkbrenner Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (7 November 1785 – 10 June 1849), also known as ''Frédéric Kalkbrenner'', was a pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. German by birth, Kalkbrenner studied at the Conservatoire de Paris ...

and piano with

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

. After finishing his studies, he taught piano at the Conservatoire from 1862 to 1893. Among his notable students were

Teresa Carreño María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García (December 22, 1853June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelans, Venezuelan pianist, composer, soprano, and conductor. Over the course of her 54-year concert career, she became an internationally renowned v ...

, Camille Chevillard,

Paul Dukas Paul Abraham Dukas ( 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-k ...

Camille Erlanger Camille Erlanger (25 May 186324 April 1919) was a French opera composer. He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Léo Delibes (composition), Georges Mathias (piano), as well as Émile Durand and Antoine Taubon (harmony). In 1888 he won the P ...

, James Huneker, Henri O'Kelly,

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

Raoul Pugno Stéphane Raoul Pugno (23 June 1852 – ) was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works. Biography Raoul Pugno was born in Paris and was of Italian origin. He made his debut at the age of six, and w ...

, Alfonso Rendano,

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

, Eugénie Satie-Barnetche,

Ernest Schelling Ernest Henry Schelling (July 26, 1876 – December 8, 1939) was an American pianist, composer, and conducting, conductor, and music director. He was the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1935 to 1937. Biography He was born in ...

, Ernesto Elorduy, José Tragó and Alberto Williams. Mathias and Karol Mikuli, another student of Chopin, significantly influenced the way their teacher's style was communicated to later generations of musicians. Besides teaching, Mathias was also active as a concert pianist. On 14 March 1864, he was the principal pianist at the premiere of

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

's '' Petite messe solennelle''. He was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1872. He died in Paris in 1910, on his 84th birthday.

Works

His compositions include overtures to ''Hamlet'' and ''Mazeppa'', five ''morceaux symphoniques'' for piano and strings, two piano concertos, six piano trios, a symphony, ''Oeuvres choisies pour le piano'', ''Études de genre'', ''Études de style et de mécanisme'', a collection of two and four-hand piano pieces, and transcriptions including the one of some scenes from

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

''.

References

External links

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Information about Mathias in other sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathias, Georges 1826 births 1910 deaths French Romantic composers French male composers 19th-century French male classical pianists 19th-century French classical pianists Conservatoire de Paris alumni French piano educators Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Musicians from Paris Pupils of Fromental Halévy Pupils of Frédéric Chopin Burials at Montmartre Cemetery