Germaine Thyssens-Valentin facts for kids
Germaine Thyssens-Valentin (born July 27, 1902 – died July 7, 1987) was a talented classical pianist. She was born in the Netherlands but had French and Dutch parents. She became famous for playing French music, especially the works of Gabriel Fauré.
Germaine studied music at the famous Paris Conservatoire (a top music school). In the 1950s, after taking time off to raise her five children, she started performing again. She recorded many of Fauré's pieces, and these recordings are still very popular today.
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Early Life and Musical Start
Germaine Suzanna Jeanne Thyssens was born in Maastricht, a city in the Netherlands. She was the oldest of three children. Her father, Jean-Jacques Thyssens, was Dutch, and her mother, Jeanne Caroline Schmidt, was from Alsace, a region in France.
Her father, who worked as a director for the Peugeot company in Belgium, passed away in 1907. At that time, Germaine was almost five years old. Her mother encouraged her to learn piano when she was about five. She also later learned to play the harpsichord.
When she was only eight, Germaine played her first concert. She performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. Critics were very impressed by her performance.
Studying Music
Germaine first studied at the Royal Academy of Liège. In 1914, at the age of 13, she joined the Conservatoire de Paris. This famous music school was led by the composer Gabriel Fauré at the time.
She took classes with well-known teachers like Isidor Philipp and Marguerite Long. To help pay for her studies, Germaine gave piano lessons. She also played music in cinemas during silent movies. In 1920, she won first prize at the Conservatoire for both piano and music history.
Family and Return to Music
In December 1924, Germaine Thyssens married Paul Valentin. She then started using both their names, becoming Thyssens-Valentin. By this time, she was becoming a successful piano soloist. She played with leading chamber musicians and orchestras like the Concerts Colonne.
However, she decided to stop her music career completely to raise her five children.
After 25 years away from professional music, Germaine Thyssens-Valentin returned in 1951. Her first performance back was the same Mozart concerto she had played as an eight-year-old. The conductor for this concert was Albert Wolff. He helped her get introduced to the director of the Salzburg Festival, a famous music event. She performed there the next year.
Between 1956 and 1959, she recorded many albums for a French company called Ducretet-Thomson. These recordings were not widely available outside France. The company struggled to keep up with new stereophonic recording technology, so her albums went out of print in the 1960s.
Later Career and Fauré's Music
In 1956, Germaine Thyssens-Valentin became the first pianist to perform all of Fauré's piano works in a series of concerts. She played them all again the following year.
From 1958 to 1966, she also taught music. In the 1960s, she helped perform all of Fauré's chamber music. She played with other famous musicians, including Paul Tortelier. She continued to promote Fauré's music in her later years. This included teaching masterclasses and creating a special edition of his first eight Nocturnes with helpful fingerings.
In 1974, she played all 13 of Fauré's nocturnes at the Salle Gaveau concert hall. Fauré's daughter-in-law was so impressed that she greeted Germaine with, "Oh! Madame, quel effort!" (Oh! Madam, what an effort!).
Thyssens-Valentin retired in 1983. Her last concert, in November of that year, included music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré, and Debussy. She passed away in Paris in 1987, at the age of 84.
Her Musical Reputation
Even though Germaine Thyssens-Valentin was not very well known outside France during her lifetime, her recordings changed that. When her Ducretet-Thomson recordings, especially those of Fauré's music, were re-released on compact discs, more people around the world discovered her talent.
In Gramophone magazine, a music critic named Michael Oliver wrote that he had never heard of her before. But after listening, he had "not the slightest doubt that Germaine Thyssens-Valentin (1902–87) was a great and inspired pianist." He felt that her playing of Fauré's music was unmatched. He said her playing showed the deep feelings in Fauré's music, especially in his later pieces.
Another critic, Bryce Morrison, who specializes in piano music, described her Fauré playing as "distinctive, fluid, understated and of a rare tonal and poetic delicacy and finesse." He believed no other pianist could understand Fauré's music as deeply as she could.
Her recording of Fauré's Nocturnes even won a Gramophone Award. In 2011, a review on BBC Radio 3 compared all recordings of the Nocturnes. Stephen Plaistow, the reviewer, judged Thyssens-Valentin's recording to be the best.
Discography
Here are some of the recordings by Germaine Thyssens-Valentin:
- Debussy, En blanc et noir – with Jeanne Sleeve-Thais, piano (Testament)
- Fauré, Works for piano – (1956–59, Testament SBT 1215, 1262, 1263 and 1400)
- Fauré, Piano Quintets; Piano Quartet No 1, with the Quartet of the ORTF (Editions A. Charlin)
- Franck, Prelude, choral & fugue (1954, Testament)
- Franck, Prelude, aria & finale (1954, Testament)
- Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 K. 488 – Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Bernhard Paumgartner (1953, Testament SBT 1401)
- Nin, Chants populaires espagnols – with Maria Kareska, soprano (Ducretet-Thomson, 1956)
