Maurice Hippolyte Dumesnil (20 April 1884 – 26 August 1974) was a French classical pianist.

Biography

Born in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

, Dumesnil studied the piano 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 Isidore Philipp, and was a pupil of

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

. He undertook successful concert tours throughout Europe and America. Starting in 1915, he played in trio with violinist Jules Boucherit and cellist

André Hekking André Hekking (20 July 186614 December 1925) was a French cellist. Born in Bordeaux, he studied with Charles Auguste de Bériot, touring Spain at fifteen. In 1909, he settled in Paris to become a teacher of the cello, having in the meantime gai ...

. He was a member of the piano management committees at the Paris Conservatory, the

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot and Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (English: no ...

and the

American Conservatory The Fontainebleau Schools were founded in 1921, and consist of two schools: ''The American Conservatory'', and the ''School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau''. History When the American Expeditionary Forces entered the First World War, the command ...

. Based in the United States, Dumesnil was married to Evangeline Marie Lehman (1896-1975), a composer. He also published several books on Debussy's piano music (
How to Play and Teach Debussy
',
Claude Debussy, Master of Dreams
', 1940). Dumesnil died at Highland Park, in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

(United States).

External links

Michigan University, Bentley historical library

Ampico--"The Dancing Marionette"- Opus 11, by Henry-played by Maurice Dumesnil
1920 recording {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumesnil, Maurice 1884 births 1974 deaths People from Angoulême Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists Debussy scholars