Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger (born 9 March 1940) is a Swiss

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

. He became known through his activities as a juror and publications on Chopin.

Life

Born in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

, Eigeldinger studied at the

University of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking public research university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, ...

, the Sorbonne and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. From 1976 to 1981 he taught at the Jacques-Dalcroze Institute in Geneva and from 1978 to 1983 at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève. He also taught as a guest lecturer at the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in Paris and at the

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. He is a retired professor at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

, where he has worked since 1981. He was one of the founders of the Swiss Musicological Society and long-serving editor-in-chief of the ''Revue musicale'' in Romansh-speaking Switzerland. In 1984 Eigeldinger received the Order of Merit of the Polish Minister of Culture. In 2001 the International Chopin Foundation awarded him the Chopin Prize. He was also a juror of the

International Chopin Piano Competition The International Chopin Piano Competition (), often called the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition in Warsaw, Poland, held first in 1927 and every five years since 1955. The competition is one of the founding members of the World Federa ...

. Eigeldinger's teaching interests focus on the history of esthetics and interpretation of the 18th and 19th centuries music. His numerous works on Chopin include studies on Chopin's compositions and stylistic devices ( Préludes) and contributions to the composer's biography. Eigeldinger is also the editor of texts dealing with Chopin's work as a piano teacher. In 1993 Eigeldinger published Chopin's sketches for a piano teaching method. In his book ''Chopin vu par ses élèves'' (1970), which contains the first complete English translation of the ''Entwurfs einer Methode'', he collected extensive material from Chopin's students and sources from Chopin himself on the piano playing technique and the interpretation of his music. Together with John Rink and

Jim Samson Thomas James Samson, FBA (born 6 July 1946), commonly known as Jim Samson, is a musicologist and retired academic. Described as "a leading authority on the music of Chopin", his research extends to Romantic music, early 20th-century classical ...

, Eigeldinger is preparing a new critical edition of Chopin's entire oeuvre. In September 2001 he was appointed to the program committee of the Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Publications

* ''Chopin vu par ses élèves'', Neuchâtel: La Baconniére, 1970; revised new edition Paris:

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

, 2006, – English translation under the title ''Chopin: pianist and teacher – as seen by his pupils'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, * Solange Clésinger, ''Frédéric Chopin. Souvenir inédits'', published by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, in: ''Revue musicale de Suisse romande'', Jg. 31 (1978), * ''L'univers musical de Chopin'', Paris: Fayard, 2000, * ''Chopin et Pleyel'', Paris: Fayard, 2010, * ''Chopin, âme des salons parisiens: 1830–1848'', Paris: Fayard, 2013, * '' Jean-Joseph-Bonaventure Laurens et ses pèlerinages musicaux en Allemagne 1841–1853'', in: ''Musique, Images, Instruments. Revue française d’organologie et d’iconographie musicale'', Jg. 16 (2016),

Bibliography

* ''La note bleue: mélanges offerts au professeur Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger'', publisher Jacqueline Waeber, Bern: Lang, 2006, * ''Chopin improvisateur. Un aspect méconnu'', Lecture given by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger on October 17, 2017 at (

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

) availabl
online

External links

*Biography on the web site of th
Polish Chopin Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eigeldinger, Jean-Jacques 1940 births Living people People from Neuchâtel Academic staff of the University of Geneva Swiss musicologists Classical music critics Chopin scholars University of Neuchâtel alumni