Irène Aïtoff (30 July 1904 – 5 June 2006) was a French pianist and

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

Biography

Born in Saint-Cast (

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.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 ...

after having been introduced to

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

. She was quickly recognized in musical circles as an excellent pianist, but did not make a concert career. From 1932 to 1939, she accompanied the singer

Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque. Biography Emma Laure Esther Guilbert was born in Paris on 20 January 1865 to a modestly w ...

with whom she discovered that "French singing is inseparable from the text." Therefore, diction was essential for her. From 1940, her name was often associated with that of the great conductor Charles Munch, of whom she became an important collaborator, known for her ability to teach singers their role, to reduce or transpose orchestral scores. She was also vocal conductor at the

Aix-en-Provence Festival The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumenta ...

since the 1950s with

Gabriel Dussurget Gabriel Dussurget (1 January 1904 – 28 July 1996) was a French impresario and opera director. He was the co-founder of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, an annual summer opera festival in Aix-en-Provence, and served as its artistic director from 194 ...

. She had artists like

Teresa Berganza Teresa Berganza Vargas OAXS (16 March 1933 – 13 May 2022) was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with roles such as Rossini's Rosina and La Cenerentola, and later Bizet's Carmen, admired for her technical virtuosity, mu ...

Teresa Stich-Randall Teresa Stich-Randall ( Stich; 24 December 1927 17 July 2007) was a European-based American soprano opera singer.

to ensure the singers' preparation to perform Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. In 1973, she worked for ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' directed by

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an Italian stage director, theatre practitioner, actor, and politician. Strehler was one of the most significant figures in Italian theatre during his lifetime, described by Mel Gu ...

. Her spat with chef

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

became famous. Until the beginning of this 21st century, Irène Aïtoff gave her advice and observations to many students, and worked with various renowned chefs, including Georg Solti and

Charles Dutoit Charles Édouard Dutoit is a Swiss conductor. He is the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. In 2017, he became the 103rd recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal Award. Dutoit held previous positions ...

. She was known for her uncommon will and the extreme rigour of her demands, especially of herself. In 1994, she accompanied for her show ''L'Absinthe'' on songs from 1900. At the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne in 1995, she was in charge of rehearsals of Auber's ''

Le domino noir ''Le domino noir'' (''The Black Domino'') is an ''opéra comique'' by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed on 2 December 1837 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris.Wild and Charlton (2005), p. 226. The libre ...

'', a work that had totalled 1209 performances at the Salle Favart between 1837 and 1909. On 30 May 2002, on the centenary of ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

in Paris, that which had become with the passing of time, and in spite of the most complete ignorance of the media spheres, a figure of the French musical life had insisted, in spite of her great age, to mark the event of her presence. In 2008, filmmaker devoted a documentary called ''La Grande Mademoiselle'' to her. Aïtoff died in Paris at the age of 101.Obituary
in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' (10 June 2006)

References

External links

Biography
on Music Me *
Discography
on Discogs
Irène Aitoff la grande mademoiselle
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitoff, Irene 20th-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists French music educators Conservatoire de Paris alumni French choral conductors French women conductors (music) 1904 births 2006 deaths People from Côtes-d'Armor French women centenarians Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French conductors (music) French women music educators 20th-century French women educators 20th-century French educators