Marcel Ciampi

Marcel Paul Maximin Ciampi (29 May 1891 – 2 September 1980)^[1] was a French pianist and teacher. He held the longest tenure in the history of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris^[2] and also became head of piano classes at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England.^[3] He worked with many of the great names of the 20th century, including Claude Debussy,^[4][5] Pablo Casals, Jacques Thibaud, Georges Enesco, Alfred Cortot, Vlado Perlemuter and Lazare Lévy.

Ciampi was taught by Louis Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire and won the first prize for pianoforte in 1909. He had a brilliant career as a concert pianist, appearing with orchestras in France, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Sofia and Athens. He turned to teaching and had a particular influence on Hephzibah Menuhin and her sister Yaltah Menuhin. He accepted Yaltah at age four, after hearing her play Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen.^[6]

His students also included Yvonne Loriod,^[7] Cécile Ousset,^[8] Thea Musgrave,^[9] John Carmichael,^[10] Mícéal O'Rourke,^[11] Jean-Marc Luisada,^[12] Pierre Hétu, Kathryn Stott, Melvyn Tan,^[13] Nancy Bricard,^[14] Avi Schönfeld,^[15] Beryl Sedivka,^[16] Andree Juliette Brun,^[17] Sally Sargent,^[18] Grant Foster,^[19] Mary Lou Muller,^[20] Anna-Marie Globenski,^[21] Eric Heidsieck,^[22] Jacqueline Cole,^[23] Bernard King and many others. Another of his students was John-Paul Bracey, who was to become his biographer.^[4]

Ciampi recorded some early electrical solo and chamber music discs for French Columbia.^[24] His available recordings on CD include César Franck’s Piano Quintet with the Capet Quartet.^[25] His family also had international careers. His assistants were Denyse Rivière and Blanche Bascourret de Guéraldi.

His compositions include Six Studies for the piano. He was a jury member on competitions such as the Alexander Brailowsky Competition in Liège and the Eugène Ysaÿe Competition in Brussels.

Ciampi was appointed an Officer of the Légion d'honneur and the Belgian Order of Léopold. He died in 1980.

References

Sources

• Eric Blom, ed., Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition (1954)

Further reading

• John-Paul Bracey, A Biography of French Pianist Marcel Ciampi: Music To Last A Lifetime