Louis Diémer
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Louis-Joseph Diémer (February 14, 1843, Paris – December 21, 1919, Paris) was a French pianist and composer.
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[edit] Life
Diémer studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning premiers prix in piano, harmony and accompaniment, counterpoint and fugue, and solfège, and a second prix in organ. His teachers were Antoine Marmontel for piano, Ambroise Thomas for composition and François Benoist for organ.
He quickly built a reputation as a virtuoso and toured with the violinist Pablo de Sarasate. At the Conservatoire he taught, among others, Édouard Risler, Alfred Cortot,Lazare Lévy, Alfredo Casella, Yves Nat and Robert Casadesus.
Diémer was also instrumental in promoting the use of historical instruments, giving a series of harpsichord performances as part of the 1889 Universal Exhibition and contributing to the founding of the Société des instruments anciens.
Diémer's output as a composer was extensive, including a piano concerto and a quantity of salon pieces, all more or less forgotten these days.
[edit] Works dedicated to Diémer
César Franck composed his Variations Symphoniques for him, and Edouard Lalo dedicated his piano concerto in F minor to him.
[edit] Recordings
Diémer was also among the earliest pianits to record for the grammophone. His recordings are said to show the best aspects of the 19th-century French piano school—clarity, point, and control in rapid, detaché passages and limpid pianissimo scales. They clearly attest to Diémer's title in the French press as "the king of the scale and the trill[1]." They also give evidence to comments made by his pupil Lazare Lévy, who himself would become an influence on the French musical scene. Lévy wrote, "The astonishing precision of [Diémer's] playing, his legendary trills, the sobriety of his style, made him the excellent pianist we all admired[2]."
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
[edit] Books and other written materials
- Schonberg, Harold C., The Great Pianists (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987, 1963)
