Lucette Descaves (1 April 1906 – 15 April 1993) was a French pianist and teacher, whose pupils included

Jean-Yves Thibaudet Jean-Yves Thibaudet (born 7 September 1961)Michael & Joyce Kennedy, 2007. is a French pianist. Early life and education Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, to non-professional musical parents. His father played the violin, and his mother, of Ger ...

Geneviève Joy Geneviève Joy (; 4 October 1919 – 27 November 2009) was a French classical and modernist pianist who, at the end of World War II in 1945, formed a critically acclaimed duo-piano partnership with Jacqueline Robin which lasted for forty-five ye ...

Brigitte Engerer Brigitte Engerer (; 27 October 1952 – 23 June 2012) was a French pianist. Biography Born in Tunis, French Tunisia, Engerer started piano lessons at the age of four, and by the age of six was performing in public. When she was 11 her fami ...

Pascal Rogé Pascal Rogé (born 6 April 1951) is a French pianist. His playing includes the works of compatriot composers Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, and Poulenc, among others. However, his repertoire also covers the German and Austrian ...

, and

Katia and Marielle Labèque The Labèque sisters, Katia (born 11 March 1950) and Marielle (born 6 March 1952), are an internationally recognised French piano duo. Biography Education and first performances Katia and Marielle Labèque were born in Bayonne, on the southwest ...

Biography

Born in Paris, daughter of the police commissioner Eugène Descaves (brother of the writer

Lucien Descaves Lucien Descaves (; 16 March 1861 – 6 September 1949) was a French novelist. Selected works * ''Le Calvaire de Héloïse Pajadou'' (1883) 'Héloïse Pajadou's Calvary.'' Sunny Lou Publishing , 2021 Further reading * * External link ...

) and goddaughter of

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

, Lucette Descaves studied piano, encouraged by her mother. She entered the

Paris Conservatoire 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 ...

while

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

was the director, in the class of

Marguerite Long Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. Life Early life: 1874–1900 Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoin ...

. Having won first prize for piano in 1923, she was herself put in charge of Long's preparatory class (during the Second World War, she taught the young student

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist, and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to ma ...

, who in 1988 asked her to appear in his autobiographical film ''Cinq Jours en Juin''). Subsequently, she became

Yves Nat Yves Philippe Avit Nat (29 December 1890 – 31 August 1956) was a French pianist and composer. Biography Nat was born in Béziers and showed an early aptitude for both piano and composition. By the age of seven he was allowed to improvise each ...

's teaching assistant. Lucette Descaves was regarded by Marguerite Long as her spiritual heir. In 1941, Descaves was made a piano professor at the Conservatoire. As a pianist, she has premiered works by Jolivet (ritual dances, 1942 Concerto for piano, 1951) and Rivier (Concerto for Piano, 1954). Until her retirement from the Conservatoire in 1976, she taught several outstanding pianists, including

Géry Moutier Géry Moutier (born 1957) is a French classical pianist, music educator, and director. Life Born in Normandy in 1957, Moutier explored the piano at the age of four, with a mother who loved literature and a father - a graduate of the Van Der Kel ...

and

Georges Pludermacher Georges Pludermacher (born 26 July 1944) is a French classical pianist. He leads an international solo career and performs in the most prestigious festivals. Biography Born in Guéret, Pludermacher began playing the piano at the age of three. He ...

. Upon retirement of the Conservatory, she continued her teaching at the Rueil-Malmaison conservatory, directed by one of her former students, Jacques Taddei. She also had a career as a concert soloist, performing under conductors such as

Philippe Gaubert Philippe Gaubert (5 July 1879 – 8 July 1941) was a French musician who was a distinguished performer on the flute. He was a respected conducting, conductor and a composer, primarily for the flute.Edward Blakeman. 'Gaubert, Philippe' in ''Grov ...

Charles Münch Charles Munch (; born Karl Münch; 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsacian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston ...

and Andre Cluytens. She performed and premiered much contemporary music, most notably works by

André Jolivet André Jolivet (; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influ ...

(''Cinq danses rituelles'', the Piano Concerto) and

Jean Rivier Alexis Fernand Félix Jean Rivier (21 July 1896 – 6 November 1987) was a French composer of classical music in the neoclassical style. The son of , a co-inventor of Armenian paper, he composed over two hundred works, including music for orche ...

. She also performed works by

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

and

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

, and performed

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

's Third Piano Concerto before the composer on 25 October 1931 at the Concerts Poulet. She studied the complete piano works of

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

and

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

with the composers before recording them on LP. She was first married to the conductor and pianist Georges Truc (died 1941), artistic director of Pathé-Marconi France; she then married the conductor

Louis Fourestier Louis (Félix André) Fourestier (31 May 1892 – 30 September 1976) was a French conductor, composer and pedagogue, and was one of the founders of the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris. Early years, compositions and prizes Fourestier was born in Mo ...

. She died aged 87 in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

References

1906 births 1993 deaths 20th-century French women classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists French piano educators Musicians from Paris French women music educators French pianists French women pianists {{France-classical-musician-stub