Alfred Corto — Wikipedia

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Afred cortot , born the in Nyon (Switzerland) and died on In Lausanne, is a French pianist. He is considered one of the great performers of XX It is century [ 2 ] . Renowned pedagogue, he is one of the founders of the Paris Normal Music School. Its role in the government of Vichy and its attitude during the occupation are subject to controversy.

Family and childhood origins in Switzerland [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Alfred Cortot was born in a modest family installed in Nyon, “Small town located near Lake Geneva in Switzerland” [ that 1 ] . His mother comes from the country of Ajoie, “Swiss region claiming to be French tradition” [ that 2 ] ; His French father is from Villars, near Tournus in Burgundy [ in 1 ] . Although described as Franco park » By his biographer Bernard Gavoty [ that 2 ] And despite his attachment to his country of birth, he never had only French nationality [ in 1 ] .

He is the fourth child of a siblings made up of a brother and two sisters much older [ in 1 ] . Very early on, his mother decided to make her youngest a big pianist [ in 2 ] While, according to him, he did not “Neither aptitude nor preference” for the piano [ that 3 ] . In 1882, the family moved to Geneva to offer the child an artistically stimulating environment [ that 4 ] . While he was only five years old, his two sisters learn piano and music theory at the conservatory of this city to transmit this teaching to their brother [ in 2 ] . Léa, the elder, takes care of the instrument and Annette, her youngest, the musical theory [ that 4 ] . Although their musical level is very rudimentary, Cortot is deeply marked by this improvised learning. He will say much later about his sisters:

“They granted the elementary learning of the keyboard an imaginary meaning which made me forget the abstract side of the notions that they taught me to locate it on the fringes of reality, in a sort of magical atmosphere, capable of enchanting my dreamy nature And weaned from all other distractions. I owe to this initial contact what we then called, and sometimes without too much complacency my “expressionism” [ in 2 ] . »

Alfred is not a child prodigy, but works with great care and discipline. The whole family sacrifices themselves for their education. As Bernard Gavoty sums it up: “Among the Cortot, a child […] carries on his little shoulders the ambition of a laborious home. Five people around him impose sacrifices for the youngest to continue his studies. Everyone puts all their hearts [ that 5 ] . […] Alfred’s success will be the salvation of the whole family [ that 6 ] . »

The Paris Conservatory [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1886, the family moved to Paris with the objective of seeing him enter the National Conservatory of Music and Decision. His training being insufficient, he fails, but one of the teachers, Émile Decombes, agrees to take him in his course as a free auditor and he succeeded in the competition the following year [ in 2 ] .

Decombes it diem [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In the Decombs class, he met people who were students from Frédéric Chopin, like Georges Mathias (1826-1910); He is marked with it all life, thus being in immediate relation with the time of romanticism which has always been his lost paradise [ in 3 ] . Decombs himself had repeatedly received advice from Chopin [ that 7 ] .

The studies of the young Cortot are laborious even if his teachers describe him as very applied: he managed to pass in the upper class of Louis Diémer only after six years. He has no big affinities with Diémer who favors technique to the detriment of expression. However, this one presents Anton Rubinstein, pupil of Franz Liszt and the most famous pianist of the time. Cortot plays the Sonata “passionate” by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Rubinstein declared to him at the end of their meeting: “Small, don’t forget what I’m going to tell you: Beethoven, it doesn’t work, it is reinventing [ that 8 ] . »

Cortot still failed three times in the end -of -year competition. But, in 1896, when he was almost nineteen, he played the Fourth ballad of Chopin in front of the jury and brilliantly won the first prize, unanimously of the jury, only named [ in 4 ] .

Russels [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In Diémer’s class, Cortot meets Édouard Risler of four years his elder and first prize in 1889, which had an immense influence on him. Diémer had studied in Germany with Eugen d’Albert, the favorite disciple of Franz Liszt: he teaches Cortot an approach to the much more orchestral and expressive piano [ in 5 ] . But it is risler who initiates Cortot to Chopin and in particular to his Studies who accompanied him all his life. Bernard Gavoty reports what Cortot felt during a working session:

“I suddenly felt music enter me, not with his notes, but with his spell, his ability to radiate, to transmit the incommunicable … […] risking revealed a magical world of which I Know only the outside … […] of this moment, I understood what the music aroused and how the vocation of interpreter could transcend the profession of pianist. I knew, I saw, I thought, I was disillusioned [ that ] . »

This training played a decisive role which explains its first prize in 1896. Cortot said to risk: “He was my brother and my model. I owe her everything [ in 5 ] . »

Professional beginnings [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Bayreuth [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Maison Pleyel offering a gift to the winners of the first prize of the Conservatoire, Cortot asks that we offer a trip to Bayreuth. He joins to risk there who presents Cosima, the daughter of Franz Liszt and wife of Richard Wagner [ in 5 ] . The discovery of Wagner’s music is such a shock that he decides to become a conductor [ art 1 ] . Risler also introduces it into the circle of French musicians who make the “pilgrimage” in Bayreuth: these meetings will open many doors to him in his country [ in 6 ] . Back in France, he is a recognized musician and plays chamber music in Parisian fairs and convinces the Countess Greffulhe to finance the first execution of the Twilight of the gods in France that he himself directs the and which is a triumph [ art 1 ] . He was a repeater in Bayreuth in 1901 [ art 2 ] .

Conductor [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1903, he created his own orchestra, which allowed him to direct the first in France of the German Requiem The Brahms and De La Symphony of Beethoven [ art 1 ] . As it was customary at that time, he co -produced the concerts he directs. Unfortunately, after the gradual withdrawal of his patrons and a doubtful partner in terms of management, his career as a conductor turned out to be a financial disaster, and he resumed his career as a pianist in 1905.

Met [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

By her marriage in 1902 with Clotilde Bréal, daughter of philologist Michel Bréal [ art 2 ] And best friend of Léon Blum’s wife, Cortot assiduously frequents the middle of the intellectual bourgeoisie. Thus, in the living room of M me Ménard-Dorian, he met Clemenceau, Aristide Briand and the great figures of the radical or socialist left [ in 7 ] . Cortot declares himself during this period “passionately Dreyfusard”. He considers Léon Blum as “his best friend” [ art 2 ] .

Music in trio [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1905, he founded a trio of chamber music with Pablo Casals and Jacques Thibaud whose reputation became international quickly [ art 1 ] . The trio had a considerable success which made this musical genre out of the salons to impose it on the concert scenes [ art 1 ] . But the trio ended in the 1930s for political reasons, Casals reproaching its partners for not engaging in its anti -fascist struggle during the Spanish War: “The difficulty of reconciling the respective agendas of the three stars, but also private and political tensions, however, separate Casals from his comrades around 1935: unlike the other two, the cellist refuses to go and play in Nazi Germany, then Building with passion in the defense of republican Spain. »» [ in 8 ] , [ art 3 ] .

He meets Gabriel Fauré, of whom he becomes very close, and creates his nocturnes nº 7 and nº 9 [ art 1 ] .

Pedagogue [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Besides his interpreter activities, Alfred Cortot has a teacher career. He was appointed professor of the female piano class at the National Conservatory of Music and Decision in 1907 [ art 1 ] . He has the first students Yvonne Lefébure, Magda Tagliaferro and Clara Haskil [ art 1 ] . During his whole life, he will alternate concerts and teaching.

WWI [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1914, Cortot interrupts his pianistic career to devote himself entirely to patriotic actions. He organizes shows for the front of the front and “the rear” [ art 1 ] . Precisely, he organized national mornings which will take place until 1918 in Sorbonne, in Paris [ in 9 ] . He also participated in the influence of music within the show’s theater shows, intended for trenches fighters [ in 9 ] .
Called by Albert Dalimier, under secretary of state at the Beaux-Arts which spots it in 1916 [ in 9 ] , Cortot was entrusted in 1916 an “artistic propaganda service”. He organizes numerous events, exhibitions, theatrical performances, concerts in allied or neutral countries [ in 10 ] .

Between two wars [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The peak of her career [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The period between the two world wars is the peak of Cortot’s artistic career [ that 10 ] .

It was during this period that he wrote most of his works [ that 10 ] : educational writings ( Piano methods , Commented editions ), literary writings ( French piano music , Preface , etc.).

The number of concerts and conferences is a prodigy [ that’s 11 ] . He records 150 discs and directs the school orchestra as a conductor as chief normal school [ art 3 ] . We speak of the “miracle cortot”: it is the expression used by Louis Barthou, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who raises him to the dignity of Commander of the Legion of Honor [ that 12 ] .

Indeed, Cortot is a symbol of the cultural influence of France and does not hesitate to support the foreign policy of the Third Republic. For example, he gave many concerts in Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to support the “little agreement”, he played in Germany from 1927 after the Franco-German rapprochement following the Locarno and USSR agreements in the spring of 1936 moment of signing a Franco-Soviet agreement [ in 11 ] . This explains that it is for foreign affairs and not the fine arts that he becomes commander of the Legion of Honor [ in 11 ] .

His book French piano music is in fact a collection of articles on the pianistic work of Franck, Debussy, Ravel or the group of Six [ art 3 ] . Cortot is particularly attached to highlighting French music of his time [ that 13 ] .

Cortot has become one of the most important musicians in international musical life. The country where he has the most success is the one where he has really started his career: Germany. The Germans considered him in the late 1920s as “the greatest pianist of his time” and “the most authorized translator of Schumann [ that 14 ] , [ in 12 ] ». For Cortot, who considers Germany as the homeland of musicians [ that 14 ] , this is the consecration.

The Normal Music School [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After a tour in the United States in 1918, he founded in 1919 with Auguste MANGEOT, director of the journal The musical world , the École Normale de Musique de Paris which now bears its name [ in 13 ] . The Normal Music School is designed above all as an international influence center since it is intended to welcome foreign students above all [ art 3 ] . Cortot wants the school to have a complete course, with the in -depth study of an instrument, music theory, writing, the history of music, the practice of repertoire and pedagogy. Cortot also believes that a complete musical teaching has all the disciplines linked to artistic expression: rhythmic gymnastics, the history of art in correspondence with music and modern languages. The best teachers join Cortot: Lazare-Lévy (“Higher Course”) and his former pupil Yvonne Lefébure for the piano, Marcel Dupré for the organ, Wanda Landowska for the harpsichord, Jacques Thibaud for the violin, Pablo Casals and André Navarra for The cello, Claire Croiza, Charles Panzéra and Pierre Bernac for the song, Georges Enesco, Paul Dukas and Arthur Honegger for the composition, Nadia Boulanger for harmony and counterpoint.

The Second World War [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The role of Alfred Cortot and its level of involvement in the Vichy regime have been the subject of many controversies. For François Anselmini, it is “the annoying subject” and which will lastingly tarnish his reputation [ art 3 ] .

The start of the war and the debacle [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The , the day of the declaration of war from France to Germany, Cortot canceled all its commitments as in 1914 [ that 15 ] . He himself takes the initiative to write a project to coordinate all cultural activities in order to provide distraction and comfort to French soldiers [ in 14 ] , [ art 4 ] . Cortot is then offered by Georges Huisman, Director of Fine Arts, the post of General Delegate for Arts and Leisure at the armies [ that’s 16 ] . During the “funny war”, he therefore organized many concerts where he sometimes plays himself [ that’s 16 ] .

During the debacle, he is with the administration of the fine arts at the castle of Chaumont-sur-Loire the . The , Huisman and go by car to Bordeaux [ that’s 16 ] . After the armistice of , while Huisman embarked on the Marseil , Cortot goes to Vichy where the new government settles in July [ art 4 ] , [ that ] .

Cortot occupies for a very short time (that of the ministry of Albert Rivaud [ art 4 ] ) The post of Huisman before being replaced by Louis Hautecœur, person that Cortot appreciates and with whom he shares many opinions on what must be done on the artistic level [ that’s 16 ] . He was then relegated to the post of artistic director of youth services [ that 18 ] .

As in 1939, he took the initiative to write several reports, during the summer of 1940 [ art 5 ] . These reports concern the reorganization of musical life where he develops the reform projects he wanted to carry out for a long time [ in 15 ] . But the most important part concerns cultural propaganda abroad [ art 5 ] . As during the period 1916-18 during which he directed the “artistic propaganda service”, Cortot thinks that the recovery of the country involves the development of France’s cultural prestige [ in 16 ] . It is also the opinion of Hautecœur who declares in : “France has not been defeated artistic. Our architecture, our painting, our sculpture, our music continue to excite admiration [ in 16 ] » . Cortot as Hautecœur want to develop contemporary music but also encourage the practice of traditional and folk songs and the use of popular songs [ in 16 ] .

“An artistic and national social role in favor of the national revolution” [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The fact that Cortot joined or not the national revolution of Marshal Pétain in its entirety is the subject of debates between historians still at present [ 3 ] . Indeed, with the notable exception of his signature for an “call against terrorism” (that is to say against resistance) in 1941 [ in 17 ] , all his actions and all his writings concern only music and culture and not directly politics. On the other hand, in the field of music, its commitment is total. He writes in fact in : ‘ [the music] is an art whose national importance cannot be neglected by the public authorities any longer. [You have to press] Musical societies [whose activities have] An artistic and national social role […] in favor of the national revolution [ art 6 ] . » Or in 1943: “The Marshal’s revolution will not be a dead letter for French music [ art 7 ] . »

In a letter addressed to the “boys of France” for which he is responsible, Cortot writes these sentences which sum up his state of mind during this period:

‘ [To rebuild a France] Both very new and very old, there is no better model than the well -made work and the cult of the arts […] For my part, I dream of seeing, here and there, on French territory, youth houses where, in the evenings, we would help you to evoke the teachings of beauty in its various aspects. Neither DIY nor dilettantism in these meetings, where alternate trade or terroir songs, regional dances and legends, craft work, projections of paintings and monuments, musical auditions, learning of choral disciplines. Remember that beauty is in the eye of the one who looks. So learn to look, to hear, to understand. Adopt a beautiful motto: “The more in us”. And do not forget that we do not always sing because we are happy, but also because we are courageous [ that 18 ] . »

Posts held during the Vichy period [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Cortot’s proposals supported by Hautecœur greatly interest the new Vichy regime which appoints it in At the head of the artistic initiative service [ in 16 ] , [ art 5 ] . In November, Cortot was responsible for reading speeches to the youth of Marshal Pétain on Radio-Jeunesse and inaugurates a series of programs devoted to folk songs [ art 5 ] .

He was also appointed member of the Study Commission for Youth issues of the Vichy National Council in 1941 where he sat in one [ in 18 ] , [ that 19 ] , [ art 8 ] . In , a report suggests creating three directions within the ministry: one for plastic arts, the other for literature and theater and the last for music. It is Cortot who is chosen for music and who thus becomes the “Manager of the General Secretariat of Fine Arts for the study of questions relating to musical education, symphonic orchestras and musical societies in France [ art 9 ] ».

He is also appointed member of the Superior Teaching Council of the Conservatory by and chairs the hearings jury for the National Radio Orchestra in . He is also consulted about the appointment of the director of the comic opera in autumn 1941 and appointed member of the National Committee of Folklore the . The , he enters the office of Abel Bonnard [ 4 ] , Minister of State Secretary for National Education in the government of Pierre Laval: he is a project manager as a technical advisor for the study of professional and corporate issues likely to ensure the development of musical taste in France and appointed the next day Chairman of the Professional Organizing Committee for Music [ art 8 ] . This last post will occupy him until the end of the war and bring him to create a professional committee of musical art of free education of music, commonly called the “Cortot committee [ art 10 ] », Which he presides over the main French musicians of the time [ in 19 ] , [ art 10 ] .

These different positions have little decision -making power: he is above all an expert in charge of educational and musical issues [ in 20 ] . But his action is appreciated by the regime which awards him the Francisque [ in 20 ] And his advice is often followed by his ministries of guardianship [ in 20 ] .

Between the end of 1942 and the Liberation and while all of France was occupied, Cortot was obsessed and monopolized by its reform of the musical world [ art 11 ] which leads to the creation of an “order of musicians [ 5 ] , [ 6 ] To regulate the profession. His activity is very important during this period: census of musicians on a professional level, creation of a documentation center, constitution of a library and a nightclub, constitution of a “fund” intended to retire the old musicians, etc. [ in which 20 ] . These projects are so much to his heart that he advances a lot of personal money [ that 21 ] , [ in 19 ] . Not only will its action be largely taken up by the managing directors or inspectors who will succeed it [ that 19 ] (Amable Massis and Marcel Landowski), but some of the ideas he did not have time to apply will be developed later: the “youth houses” which were not really implemented until 1945 or the Creation of orchestras and regional conservatories set up by André Malraux and Marcel Landowski in the 1960s [ in 21 ] . Thus, regardless of the political context, Cortot’s action will have an important and lasting scope on French musical life.

In fact, Cortot plays a central role in French cultural life during the occupation. In addition to his many functions, he partially resumes his concerts especially after his departure from Vichy for Paris in [ art 12 ] , [ that 22 ] . He then gave many concerts and participated in receptions sometimes in the presence of members of the Vichy government and the occupier. This is the case, for example, during the Mozart week in or as part of Hitler’s favorite sculptor’s exhibition, Arno Breker [ 7 ] , during the summer of 1942 [ in 17 ] , [ art 12 ] . He also plays with German orchestras on tours in France and often on the antenna of Radio-Paris, which controls the propagandastaffel, with the “large orchestra” which brings together the best French instrumentalists [ in 17 ] .

Concerts in Germany in 1942 [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1942, his friend the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler whom he has known since the 1920s invited him to give concerts in Germany. Cortot poses as the only conditions to give his first concert, entirely free, at the French household in Berlin and to play, always for free, for French prisoners held in stalags and oflags [ that 22 ] . These conditions are accepted and Cortot plays well in French prison camps like those of Lichterfelde and Allach where he also makes a speech [ that 22 ] .

Furtwängler’s invitation and concerts in Germany had no explicit political content [ 8 ] But Cortot, like Furtwängler, is “totally unconscious [ in 12 ] From the immense symbolic significance of the event: Cortot thus becomes the first French musician to play in Germany since the armistice and for all those, Nazi officials or French collaborationists, who wish a strong collaboration between the two countries, these tours are blessed bread [ art 12 ] , [ 9 ] . The fact that German officials were ready to do anything to send him to play in Germany is proven by the fact that Cortot succeeds in obtaining from Otto Abetz, the German ambassador to Paris, in exchange for his concerts, the Liberation thirty orchestra musicians and even the “aryanization of honor” of French Jewish musicians [ that 23 ] .

Cortot therefore makes two tours in Germany in June and . He plays in Berlin (3 and , : Schumann concerts where he plays the composer’s concerto with Furtwängler), in Hamburg ( ), to leipzig ( ), to Munich ( ), in Stuttgart ( ) and in Frankfurt ( [ that 24 ] ). These concerts will always be very strongly accused of Cortot.

Nazi officials triumph him as well as French collaborationists on his return to Paris [ art 13 ] . The , the collaboration group gives a reception to celebrate Cortot’s return. Its president for the musical section, Max d’Ollone declares to him: “The musical section of the collaboration group had the duty, the pleasant duty, to celebrate the eminent artists whose current activity manifests itself to the greatest benefit of the Franco-German rapprochement. My dear Cortot, you made, certainly, a useful act of collaboration by accepting the offer that was made to you to play in Berlin at one of the concerts of the Philharmonic, and to be the first French artist appearing before an audience German since the armistice [ art 13 ] . » Cortot responds in a sense which seems to confirm that he does not realize the real political significance of his act. Indeed, it only uses the term collaboration in an artistic sense: “Collaboration … In the field of music, I have been given to know it between Germany and France for more than forty years, and despite the events which were opposed to other fields . I just got to know Berlin hours that earned me to be able to appreciate the spontaneity of a sympathy which, beyond my modest personality, reached the art of my country [ art 13 ] . »

Subsequently, he seems to have better understood the political scope of his concerts because, strongly asked again in 1943 (not by Furtwängler but by the government of Vichy), this time he refused the invitation [ in 22 ] .

Cortot’s attitude [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Cortot’s behavior vis-à-vis the Jews during the war is also debated among historians. There is no trace of a Cortot condemnation of racial laws which fall on all of France and affect everything in the country to its own normal school [ in 23 ] , [ art 11 ] , [ ten ] , [ 11 ] . In the same way, historians have found no writing of Cortot of an anti -Semitic character [ art 11 ] . He was very often criticized for having done nothing to help Clara Haskil and Vlado Perlemuter, two of her former students and two of the biggest pianists in XX It is century [ art 11 ] . Pianist Lazare-Lévy, among others in similar situations [ twelfth ] , reproached Cortot for being cold and indifferent when he asked him for help to save his son who had just been arrested by the Gestapo [ art 11 ] , [ 13 ] .

Conversely, the conductor Manuel Rosenthal testified to the friendship of Cortot which was of great moral comfort during the period 1941-42 [ in 24 ] . It is, on the other hand, well documented (the persons concerned have often come to testify to Cortot’s trials in this direction), which Cortot has helped and often saved many especially Jewish people. We can cite for example the pianist Léon Kartun [ in 25 ] , violinist Dany Brunschwig [ in 25 ] , the flautist Marcel Moyse [ in 25 ] , the musician Reynaldo Hahn [ in 26 ] , La soprano Marya Freund [ in 26 ] , pianist François Lang [ in 24 ] (Cortot intervened without success in this case), the pianist Henri Etlin [ in 27 ] , etc.

On the other hand, Cortot made exempt from compulsory work service (STO) of many musicians and protected those who act in this sense in hiding like Claude Delvincourt, director of the National Conservatory of Music and Drama, who had Created an “cadet orchestra” to remove his students from this obligation and which was threatened with revocation, the authorities having realized the subterfuge [ in 28 ] .

Cortot’s behavior during the war and the Germanophilia that he developed since his first stay in Bayreuth have often been compared. His friend and biographer, Bernard Gavoty, advances, indeed: “That he had, in his heart, preferred for France, during the war, the union with Germany to an alliance with America – a country which he knows well for having many times surveyed – is very probable [ that 25 ] . » But, on the one hand, his Germanophilia dates well before the Nazi power in power and did not prevent him from engaging in the war against Germany in 1914 and 1939 and, on the other hand, Gavoty explains that Cortot has a completely idealized and apolitical vision of Germany: “Germany, for him, is German music and culture – a point, that’s all [ that 26 ] . » This is confirmed by Limore Yagil: “Like other artists, he sees in Germany the country of Goethe, Heine, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner and Schiller, and not interested in politics,” Could or did not want to understand the true nature of Nazism [ in 12 ] . »

On the other hand, his idealized and apolitical vision of Germany was reinforced by his privileged relationship with Wilhelm Furtwängler who was his main professional interlocutor in Germany [ 14 ] . Furtwängler was since his accession to the direction of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1919, the living symbol of the great German musical tradition. Historian Fred K. PRIEBERG writes in conclusion of his book on Furtwängler that the latter considered himself the heir of Germany of Beethoven, Goethe and Schiller and considered the Nazis as usurper without realizing that Germany of Germany Beethoven, Goethe and Schiller no longer meant anything for the vast majority of Germans of his time [ 15 ] . Furtwängler, who was considered during his lifetime as the greatest interpreter of the German classics in particular Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Wagner that Cortot adored, corresponded exactly to the image that the latter wanted to make the Germans without realizing the complete lag Compared to the reality of his time. This ability to unwind was all the more effective since the conductor also refused to fully see the nature of what had seized the majority of Germans by locking himself in his notion of “real Germany” of which he wanted the representative.

It is therefore not surprising to learn that it was Furtwängler who invited Cortot several times in Germany as in 1930, in 1934 [ 16 ] Upon coming to power of the Nazis or in 1938 and in 1942 and that Cortot accepted his invitations in a context that they both conceived as apolitical [ 17 ] .

Cortot’s discrepancy in relation to the political reality of his time is clearly revealed by his behavior at the end of the war. While Aubel Bonnard, his supervisory minister, fled to Spain, Cortot attends the liberation of France without concern in relation to his involvement in the Vichy regime and especially in the Laval government: he remains in Paris despite Advice from several friends [ that 26 ] . According to Gavoty, political reality finally catches up with Cortot and in a very violent way the day it learns the existence of Nazi extermination camps. While Paris has just been released, he organizes a meal with Bernard Gavoty and English and American friends (met during tours in the past [ that 26 ] ). The latter evoke the existence of these camps: Cortot declares that “it is impossible”. Then in front of the evidence (we show him photos “Reported by rare escaped [ that 26 ] » Before the release of the camps), he remains nailed to his chair unable to say a word until the end of the meal. When the hosts take leave, he cannot say that “it’s awful” by kissing Renée his partner [ that 26 ] . Gavoty meets him a little later: Cortot tells him that he realized that he was wrong [ 18 ] and that he will most likely have to account for justice [ that 27 ] .

The Saturday He was arrested by three FFIs accompanied by a judicial police officer [ that 27 ] .

Trials [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Cortot spends three days in prison [ that 28 ] . He is then the subject of several interrogations [ in 29 ] . The trial having not been prepared, the judge has very few dependent elements: complaints but anonymous and a note from Madame Cortot accusing her husband of anti -Semitism [ that 29 ] . Madame Cortot was Jewish. Cortot was able to obtain during the war a pseudo-ceremony of baptism celebrated in London and thus was able to support the thesis that it was Protestant [ that 30 ] . Cortot left her in 1931 for Renée Chaine a much younger woman but the Cortot never divorced and Cortot only married Renée Chaine after the death of his first wife, at the end of 1946 [ that 31 ] . Not knowing what burden to retain against Cortot, the judge frees him on the 7 concluding that a “Premature arrest, on denunciation of the FFI of Neuilly [ in 29 ] » .

Cortot being both administrator and pianist [ art 14 ] , will be the subject of two trials before purification committees: the first time in his capacity as honorary professor at the Conservatoire and president of the Professional Committee for Musical Art and Free Teaching of Music before the ” National Committee for the Participation of Professions of Dramatic Artists, Lyrics and Musicians executors “and a second time as an artist before the” Council of Inquiry of the Administration of Fine Arts [ in 29 ] , [ in 30 ] , [ art 14 ] ».

Cortot appears before the first committee the [ art 14 ] . The charges are as follows:

– What is reproached for him the most [ in 23 ] These are his two concert tours in Germany in 1942 even if the Commission recognizes that he played for French prisoners and especially that Cortot paid all the profits of his concerts during the occupation with multiple social works, such as The nest eggs of prisoners’ musicians [ that of 32 ] , while the prisoners were, however, “one of the favorite targets of the propaganda vichyst” according to François Anselmini [ 19 ] .

– The Committee also criticizes his role under Vichy: “His provocative Vichyssoise attitude, carrier of the Francisque, member of the National Council, a demoralizing and injuring propaganda vis-à-vis the French of the metropolis and those of the combat forces” According to the words of the accusation [ art 14 ] .

For the defense, many people come to testify in his favor. It turns out to be first of all that it intervened to improve the fate of French prisoners or to obtain its release (twenty-six released according to the report of the Commission) [ that of 33 ] , in the second place that he intervened to avoid the departure of French for Germany for the compulsory labor service [ that of 33 ] , in the third place that he has helped many artists of Jewish origin like Marya Freund, Denise Soriano, Reynaldo Hahn, Léon Kartun, Dany Brunschwig, Marcel Moyse, etc. [ that of 32 ] And in fourth place that he protected from the members of the resistance identified by the occupation troops such as Robert Quilnault, ballet master at the comic opera, Jacques Bastard, singer, Jean Lamy, etc. [ that of 32 ]

The first advice rules the that his action under Vichy and his concerts in Germany are offset by his actions in favor of many people [ art 15 ] . The file will be sent to the second committee [ art 15 ] . The first committee considers, however, that it deserves administrative sanctions and issues the vow, unanimously, that Cortot is revoked from its functions as president of the professional musical committee [ art 15 ] (in fact he has already resigned from this position in the fall of 1944 [ that 29 ] ) and that his retirement as a professor at the Conservatory is deleted [ art 15 ] . This last point will not be applied [ art 16 ] .

The file is transmitted by the Minister of National Education for opinion to the director of the Conservatoire, Claude Delvincourt who strongly pleads indulgence [ art 15 ] . Indeed, the latter explains that Cortot defended him with Abel Bonnard when he had returned to hiding and that he had avoided him the revocation [ art 15 ] . He deplores not having been summoned by the first committee [ art 15 ] . The second committee re -examines its file and finally condemns Cortot to a light but symbolic sentence: the suspension of his professional activity for a year [ art 16 ] , [ that of 32 ] . As the penalty is retroactive, he can resume his work from the [ art 16 ] , [ that of 32 ] .

Cortot declared before the committee to explain his behavior during the war:

“I gave 50 years of my life to the service of France […] when I was asked to take care of the interests of my comrades, I thought that I could not refuse [… ] I thought in 1940 [when he was appointed to the National Committee] that I could serve the cause of music that had never been represented at that time […] I represented then The interests of the French government, at least the interests of France […] I have never dealt with a policy […] I only sought to devote my time to the arts. I gave up my special activities. I did not do this for a political purpose […] I had only one ambition, it was to serve a cause that I know well and that I tried to defend with all my heart for 50 years [ art 16 ] . »

Post-war [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The , Alfred Cortot gives his back -to -school concert in Tours. He then played in Deauville, Biarritz, Lyon, Reims, Saint-Etienne, Grenoble and performs tours in Switzerland, England and Italy [ that of 32 ] . After death, the , of his first wife, he married Renée Chaine (1903-1965) and settled with her in Lausanne where he decided to end her days [ that of 34 ] . All his concerts are very successful [ that of 32 ] . But in France of the Liberation with the return of General de Gaulle, where French identity is rebuilt as systematic opposition to the Vichy regime, Cortot has become, for some, the symbol of the “collaborating musician [ art 17 ] », Label that will remain permanently. Thus, part of the Parisian musical environment will inflict him, on the occasion of his return from Paris, a “sanction” much more serious for him than that of justice.

Claude Delvincourt, director of the National Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art absolutely wants to have the premiere of this school year. He organized three concerts with the Orchestra of the Concert Society led by André Cluytens les (morning and afternoon) and 19 (afternoon) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées [ that of 34 ] . But the union of artists musician from Paris and the Paris region voted for its members to accompany it “Due to the attitude of Mr. Cortot during the years of occupation” [ art 16 ] , [ that of 35 ] . The rule is very strict: any musician playing with Cortot will be removed immediately [ that of 35 ] . Thus, no Parisian musician wants, or can no longer play with Cortot. The orchestra committee warns Cortot who accepts a compromise: instead of playing the Concerto From Schumann with the orchestra, he will play Chopin’s works alone between symphonic pieces of Bach ( first re  suite ) and Debussy ( The sea ) by the orchestra [ that of 35 ] .

The concerts will turn to the riot. On the 18th, Cortot supporters whistled the orchestra and demanded the concerto as planned when they are explained to the change of program [ that 36 ] . Cortot opponents whistle in turn and insult him by insinuating his proximity to the Nazis [ in 31 ] . In the afternoon, supporters of the two “camps” having mobilized, the situation is clearly worseing: the listeners invade the orchestra and we fight in the room. Cortot remains impassive and plays its solo program: it is recalled seven times and plays two “bis” [ that 36 ] . The next day, the situation is much worse: between the fights in the room and the whistles with roulette, the concert stops in an indescribable din [ that 37 ] .

Cortot suggests Gavoty that he is not emotionally assigned but he provisionally cancels all his concerts in France [ that 38 ] . He initiated a trial against the union of musician artists. The judgment at first instance agreed to Cortot in 1948 but the court of appeal dismissed Cortot of his request. Cortot appealed in cassation, the decision of the Court of Appeal is broken and the parties returned to the Court of Referral of Orleans which ultimately proved Cortot in 1954 after seven years of procedure [ that 39 ] .

During the period 1947-1948, Cortot gave a very large number of concerts abroad [ that 40 ] . The pianist, who is now old, has cataract problems that will affect his sight. His health problems will multiply. His technique will therefore decline strongly in the years that followed birth to the legend of a cortot to approximate technique. More serious for him, his second wife continuously suffers from serious health problems [ that 40 ] . This last point and financial problems will explain that Cortot will take refuge in a frantic concertal activity throughout the last part of his life despite his continuous level of level [ that 41 ] . He also works a lot for his normal school.

Cortot had Sa Revanche Sur the concerts of : for the hundredth anniversary of Chopin’s death, the , he gives a recital in the Pleyel room with all his favorite works by the composer with which he has always identified himself. Places are taken by storm for a very long time in advance and his entourage is very afraid until the end of the concert that a new scandal does not burst [ that 42 ] . He starts with the Fantasy in F minor , a False , the Lullaby , of which he has the autograph sketch, 24 preludes Of course, the Funeral and finally the Heroic Polish [ that 43 ] . The very moved audience makes him a triumph [ that 44 ] . Cortot does not exult: he simply sends a letter to his wife to tell him how much he would have liked her to be there [ that 44 ] .

The years 1949-1956 were more and more like a flight forward. While Cortot had long promised to retire at 65 that he has already exceeded well, he multiplies concerts in France and abroad even a large tour in Japan [ that 45 ] . If he still obtains triumphs, it is more for the Cortot myth because everyone is aware that his eyes and his fingers are becoming more and more lacking: in 1956 in his normal school he gives a chopin-schumann recital which runs to disaster (there is one in three note) [ that 46 ] .

The limit point was reached in 1957. Cortot, who has just finally won his trial against the musician union, wants to devote his victory in the same place, the theater of the Champs-Élysées, and with the same orchestra, that of the Society of Concerts of the Concerts of Conservatory, that during the concerts of . He wants to play, with the orchestra for the benefit of the musicians’ pension fund, two of his greatest successes: the concerto the Schumann It Les Symphonic variations of Caesar Franck [ that 47 ] . But in front of the room full to crack, everyone became aware that Cortot no longer masters these two works which assured him the greatest triumphs around the world. Gavoty is forced to write an article on the concert. Cortot says nothing but notes in his agenda: “Gavoty article, funeral oration style [ that 47 ] . »

His wife is now convinced that he wants to die on stage. He assembled him without reply: “I will never stop [ that 48 ] ! » . His friend, the musical critic Émile Vuillermoz wrote a letter to him to beg him to stop at the request of Renée Cortot [ that 49 ] . Cortot ends up simply talking about his eighty for his retirement but still talks about tours in the United States [ that 50 ] . Cortot seeks to flatten disputes before dying: he even visited in 1958 to Marguerite Long who was the main instigator of the Cabal during the Paris concerts in . They reconcile [ that 51 ] . But the real serenity, Cortot will get it from his friend Pablo Casals.

Casals had already blurred with Cortot because he reproached him for remaining indifferent to political events during the Spanish War and continuing to play in Nazi Germany which supported Franco (Cortot played there in 1934 and 1938 in response to the ‘Furtwängler invitation). Obviously, Cortot’s participation in the Vichy regime has not improved their relationship. The two friends found themselves for the jubilee of Casals at the Sorbonne in 1956 [ that 48 ] . The day before, Cortot welcomed him to the normal school where he said to him: “I am forever your old student constantly amazed …” Casals replied the most affectionately in the world [ that 48 ] , however, not attending to speak of “events” of “things” of the conclusive past: “Finally, our affection is saved [ that 48 ] » .

The final pardon he waited for finally arrived in 1958: Casals invited him to his famous festival. The invitation is symbolic to more than one title. The festival is not only a Mecca of music It is also a high meeting place for anti-fascist artists of which Casals was always one of the spearheads. The concert takes place on : the Sonata in and Variations of Beethoven on The Magic Flute [ that 52 ] . Casals said to him during rehearsals: “You have always had the right movements. It is to believe that you swallowed a metronome set by Beethoven in person. Young pianists play twice too fast. Do you know that at home, we total a hundred and sixty-three years? We will give them a lesson [ that 52 ] . » On the day of the concert, the room is packed. The miracle occurs: Cortot finds its technique and the music is superb. In the end, Pablo leaves his desk and comes to kiss Cortot. They salute holding their hands in front of the public to endless applause [ that 51 ] . Had he had been looking for years? The fact remains that Cortot finally stops all activity. This is the last concert of his life [ that 52 ] .

He spent his last four years in Lausanne. It is found in 1962 a double cancer of lungs and arterial polyrosis. In the clinic, it is semi-inconscious and delirium. His last word to his wife remained famous: “Is the room full [ that 53 ] ? » While entering the coma, and his wife holds him by the left hand, he plays the piano with the right hand on the sheet of his bed. His wife recognizes that he repeatedly repeats a difficult line of one of the Studies of Chopin that he was very often playing [ that 53 ] . He died two days later, the , in unconsciousness. THE A religious ceremony takes place at the Saint-Roch church in Paris. A large number of people make the trip, but no official of the French musical world, to which he devoted his life [ that 54 ] . He was buried on the 19th in the Villars with his parents, his brother and his two sisters, according to his wish.

Alfred Cortot had a great influence on pianistic interpretation both in France and abroad. And particularly in the Soviet Union, where its concerts, given during the 1920s in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, were at the origin of a split in the local pianistic world. In contrast to certain more academic pianists, the progressives led by Heinrich Neuhaus and Samuil Feinberg declared themselves impressed by the French pianist to the point of rethinking their technique.

Style [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The main characteristic of his style of interpretation and what revolutionized in his time the interpretation of piano works is what he called “The natural taste to make music its emotional side” . He declared that he acquired him very early thanks to his two older sisters who tended to him music during his childhood [ art 18 ] . This is what pianist Murray Perahia summed up in 2012: “The technique did not interest her as such, she was just a vehicle for music [ art 19 ] . »

Very early on, he therefore opposed the tradition of his master Louis Diémer who dominated in France at the time and who favored, on the contrary, digital perfection at the expense of the expression [ art 18 ] . He declared on many occasions that his secret was that he “Was not a pianist” . He had to understand that he considered himself a poet and that the piano was for him only a means [ in 32 ] . So he was “The first to make a merger of the different pianistic styles, associating technical and expressiveness [ in 33 ] » .

His approach to the piano was criticized (for example by Alexandre Goldenweiser) for the many freedoms he took in relation to the partition (in particular a systematic use of the Rubato [ art 20 ] ) and by its small technical approximations which increased strongly at the extreme end of his career [ art 20 ] , [ in 34 ] .

But, like the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler to whom he was often compared [ in 35 ] , Cortot was not looking for perfection in detail. He favored a unitary approach to the work where phrasing was more important than measure. Cortot was the first to consider Chopin’s preludes as an organic whole, each piece of which would only be a privileged moment, and the miracle comes from there: unity comes from diversity [ art 21 ] . Yvonne Lefébure summed him up in 1939:

“There is a style at the Cortot that he has really created and that we recognize among all: phrasing more speaking than any other, thanks to the intensity of each note, than an admirably flexible – momentum and retained curve – influencing in an inimitable ribat. Also inimitable, this way of making the melody flourish, of putting a particularly expressive note into quotes, of bringing the sentence, with a freedom, an unexpected that commands the safest taste, and which governs a rhythm as rigorous as it is soft. Everything is so alive and animated by the inner breath that even the silences speak. Virtuosity is ennobled or rather disappears, to be only music, which is superior virtuosity [ art 20 ] . »

Each interpretation was conceived as a recreation leaving room for improvisation. André Tubeuf explained:

“Cortot one of the first understood, and explicitly made it clear that the signs noted on paper, the letter of music, are only a support for the creative imagination: having perfectly assimilated, she forgets them and flies away , fertilized, in an exhilarating freedom [ 20 ] »

His 1934 recording of Chopin studies is particularly representative of his approach to interpretation: “Insurrent and unsurpasseable version […] Cortot once again demonstrates his prodigious technical mastery and his limitless imagination [ art 22 ] . » The work has, in fact, a strong technical character and makes it possible to exercise the fingers but Cortot transcends the technical aspect to make way for the poetic imagination. This is what Rémi Jacobs explains: “The commitment that distinguishes its Studies Many other versions remain unique. These are no longer exercises but snapshots where feeling prevails over the technique [ art 23 ] . » And as Tubeuf explains: ‘ Preludes , Impromptuous , what does it matter? Even the Studies in Chopin, who admit digital exercises, even Waltzes , which claim to be dances, are first [for Cortot] moments, seizures of mood. Expressive states of the soul [ 21 ] »

But what characterizes it the most is sound richness, the color he obtained from the piano. In the lullaby of Chopin, according to the guide Tuning fork In Cortot’s game: “Everything is a matter of sounds. Listen to what moir and what vaporous light he colors the winding meanders of this prodigious series of variations on an obstinate bass » [ art 24 ] , “A living, inspired, colorful melodic discourse, constantly changing. »» [ in 32 ] . This sound wealth has often been associated with his experience as a conductor and his fascination for the richness of Wagnerian orchestration: “The experience of a Wagnerian conductor [de Cortot] forever marked the game of the pianist, a game that readily seeks the colors of the orchestra and the inflections of voice [ art 1 ] » . His chamber music experience with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals also played an important role because he declared that it was by accompanying the strings that he learned to “sing” his instrument [ art 1 ] .

For Cortot, the way of touching the keyboard or pressing the pedals could provide an infinity of shades that could be exploited to adapt them to musical discourse. This explains that the working method he described in The rational principles of pianistic technique focused on the subtle link between subjectivity and the work of the fingers, wrists and arms [ in 33 ] . Particularly significant on this subject was its use of the pedals which opened “An infinite sound palette [ art 25 ] » . According to the explanation of Lefébure:

“Their amazing handling [of the pedals], allows by the vibrato, so to speak, the right foot, wraps, resonances, and a varied radiance endlessly, however that passages pedal without Often and how much used, in addition, take an extraordinary relief [ art 25 ] . »

He is also the author of Works of Works of Works by Chopin, Schumann, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Liszt.
He wrote for Rieder editions French piano music (two volumes).

Cortot-Thibaud-Casals trio recordings [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Among their recordings, we will especially note the “archduke” trio of Beethoven of 1928. According to the guide Tuning fork , in this recording, “Cortot-Thibaud-Casals, burning of energy, make a strange flavor; They use tempo fluctuations ( cheerful cheerful ) which surprise as the most secret of the work. Such a reading is full of pulses ( scherzo ); His behavior justifies everything. Variations in Andante cantabile Always sing. Cortot, with a serious poetry, inimitable emotion Casals erase by their flexibility as phrasing the few factual imperfections […] and Thibaud in turn dare to go towards the most abrupt expressiveness. [This interpretation] remains one of the highest peaks of Beethovenian discography [ art 26 ] . » Mendelssohn and trio for piano and strings nº 3 of Schumann also remain major references [ art 27 ] , [ art 28 ] .

Repertoire [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Alfred Cortot concentrated mainly on the repertoire of XIX It is century, he said: “I am a man from XIX It is century [ in 32 ] , [ in 1 ] » , always regretting “Having come too late in a too old world [ art 18 ] » .

Cortot has left a very important discographic legacy, the most representative part of which is the set of recordings in the interwar period [ art 29 ] . Even today, his name remains first associated with Frédéric Chopin. Stefan Zweig declared in this regard:

“When Cortot’s hands no longer exist, Chopin will die a second time [ in 32 ] . »

Cortot was the privileged interpreter of the 24 preludes and 24 studies, her interpretations of these works being still leading references [ art 21 ] , [ art 22 ] . Vladimir Horowitz declared, after having attended a Cortot concert where he played these two series, that the latter had given them an “insurpass” interpretation [ that 55 ] . His recordings of the famous lullaby of Chopin illustrate particularly clearly the “color” of the pianistic game of Cortot [ art 24 ] .

Alfred Cortot has recorded many discs, especially from Chopin, Schumann and Liszt. He published the first full world registration of the Sonata in SI minor but flour, des Krisleriana they schumann one you First Book of Préludes De Debussy. Some [Who ?] often reproach him for his false notes. Nevertheless, the use of the time was that the recordings made by Cortot were in a single catch per side, without assembly [ 22 ] . Vladimir Horowitz, having heard Cortot playing the study in the form of Saint-Saens waltz, came to see him in Paris to take some lessons with him [ 23 ] . His recording of 5 It is Concerto Brandebourg by J. S. Bach also makes it possible to see his dazzling technique [ 24 ] .

With more than 6,000 recitals given on four continents [ in 36 ] , like soloist, chamberry or conductor, numerous conferences-concerts, the creation of the École Normale de Musique de Paris, multiple classes of master data in Paris, Lausanne or even at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, the Publication of the first Urtext editions of the pianistic repertoire, a source of precious documentation still relevant, the musical and educational heritage of Cortot is exceptional and does not know any equivalent to XX It is century.

A certain vision of musical teaching [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Renowned for his pedagogy, he had many students who were excellent pianists, such as Jean-Claude Englebert, Clara Haskil, Denise Bidal, Dinu Lipatti, Hélène Liamin, Jacques Dupont, Samson François, Setrak, Gina Bachauer, Yvonne Lefébure , Marcelle Meyer, Vlado Perlemuter, Magda Tagliaferro, Queen Gianoli, Hélène Boschi, Florence Delaage, Jerome Lowenthal, Jean Micaault, Pnina Salzman, Rodica Soutzo, Thierry de Brunhoff or even Marguerite Monnot who, before becoming the stittered composer of edit Piaf was a talented concertist. Other students, in Quebec, Yvonne Hubert and André Mathieu (the young composer called Le Mozart Québécois [ 25 ] At the tragic fate), Claudine Perretti in Lausanne and Boulogne-Billancourt, and Blanche Bascourret de Guéraldi at the Normal Music School of Paris, to name only two, have become very renowned pedagogues [ 26 ] .

Alfred Cortot’s attitude under the Occupation is marked by proximity to the Vichy regime. He will also be criticized for his tours in Nazi Germany. His attitude towards Jewish musicians is the subject of contradictory testimonies. Historians today nuance the “Black legend” which was created against him and put his role in the Vichy regime.

Patriotic motivation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1939, he was sixty-two years old and was an internationally recognized artist, a star in the eyes of a large audience. His public commitments are important, but as François Anselmini points out, Cortot does not expect Marshal Pétain to be a committed artist, and in this area also the romantics serve as a model. He decides to serve a government which is still that of the Republic and from He plunges back into political and administrative action. Reproducing his attitude of 1914, he suspended any musical activity and returned to the administration of the fine arts which he frequented during the first conflict [ in 37 ] .

In 1940, according to Anselmini “The abolition of democracy and the authoritarian character that the new regime does not put off Cortot, but we know that it is far from being the only one to rally to the marshal in the climate of disarray which reigned at that time: n ‘Has it not said, with reason that France then had forty million Pétainists? »» [ in 37 ] . He therefore took part in the national revolution promoted by Marshal Pétain, hoping to represent music based on traditional values.

A criticism attitude [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

For Jacques Canetti, there is no help to the various artists that war has plunged into the adventure and some of whom had once helped him [ twelfth ] . It seems that he was indifferent to the fate of some of his former students, Jews, such as Clara Haskil and Vlado Perlemuter, or Condediples like Lazare-Lévy who came to ask him for help. In his book I am a failed violinist (1973, Julliard), musical critic Antoine Goléa paints a very hard picture of Cortot’s attitude during the Second World War; It is the same for Jérôme Spickett in his biography of Clara Haskil [ 27 ] . However, he would have helped Marya Freund and Manuel Rosenthal [Ref. necessary] .

In , then in November of the same year, Cortot gave the invitation of Wilhelm Furtwängler, a series of public concerts in Germany and in particular at the French Berlin home. He takes this opportunity to play in front of many French prisoners detained in stalags and workers’ camps near Berlin [ in 30 ] . Cortot will be requested a second time in 1943 by the Vichy ambassador in occupied territory, Fernand de Brinon, to play again in Germany. Cortot then refuses, aware that his presence in Germany serves before all the interests of Nazi propaganda. “His refusal immediately leads to the occupation authorities the systematic abolition of his visas, necessary for his tours in Switzerland, Spain and Belgium, to which he must give up. »» [ in 30 ]

Debates around a “black legend” [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After the war, Cortot’s attitude will be strongly stigmatized and will give rise to a “Black legend” who will continue the musician until after his death.

The recent work of the Israeli historian Limore Yagil today provides new elements which temper this image of a collaborating musician. Thus, she says that “Cortot intervened in favor of many musicians and Jewish artists, and others to prevent the departure of some in Germany as part of the compulsory work service or to release other orders by the occupation authorities. Several dozen people owe him their survival, a fairly exceptional attitude during the occupation and which demonstrates that “civil disobedience” was not an in vain, even for an artist who agreed to accommodate with the Vichy regime, Hoping to realize his dreams of reforming the teaching of music in France. »» [ in 30 ] It also details the steps taken by Cortot to the Vichy authorities and the Nazis [ in 30 ] , and it brings a counterweight and new elements which break with the vision commonly accepted in the historiography relating to Cortot. However, it should be noted that the work of Limore Yagil is not unanimous. It was not until the publication of François Anselmini’s thesis that light is made. This one notes in an article that “it is therefore [especially] by its musical activities that Cortot, both national glory and the most committed artist of the period, behaves as a champion of the national revolution and collaborationion (‘Our National and International Cortot’ in Chimenes and Simon, Music in Paris under the Occupation , 2013, p.179)

For Marie-Aude Roux, journalist at World ,

“The fiftieth anniversary of the pianist’s death is an opportunity to take stock of his positive contribution to the organization of musical life by his role as an expert between 1940 and 1944 as on his supposed anti -Semitic positions, whose testimonies remain contradictory. If Cortot did not get out of it, especially because of his concert tours in Germany with Wilhelm Furtwängler, the record appeared quite contrasting after the war to allow him to resume his career in 1946 [ 28 ] . »

In Japan, a coastal island bears the name of Cortot (Cortoshima), testimony of the admiration that the French pianist arouses in the Japanese archipelago [ that 56 ] .

The approximately 10,000 works and partitions annotated by his hand included by his music library were bought and are kept at the Mahler Musical Media Library [ in 38 ] . But part of the manuscripts of which Alfred Cortot had acquired it were dispersed in some of the largest public libraries around the world. The Swiss television radio retains the archives of interviews with Bernard Gavoty recorded in 1953 [ in 39 ] .

Iconography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Sound illustrations [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Discography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Publications [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  • Alfred Short , French piano music , Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, , 2 vol. ( read online ) . There is also a previous edition of this work, published by Rieder editions (Paris), the first volume without date of publication, the second with the date: M.CM.XXXII, or 1932. These tests had already appeared in the journal Musical.
  • Alfred Short , Interpretation course , Lausanne, Switzerland, Slatkine editions, , 2 It is ed. ( first re ed. 1934) (ISBN  978-2-05-000162-6 )
  • Alfred Short ( pref. Hélène Grimaud), Chopin aspects , Paris, Albin Michel, , 2 It is ed. ( first re ed. 1949), 277 p. (ISBN  978-2-26-19590-6 , BNF  42141513 )
  • Alfred Cortot: rational principles of pianistic technique – Editions Salabert (SLB4096)
  • Alfred Cortot: work editions of Chopin’s works:
    • ETUDES OPUS 10, 25 (ISMN 979-00480600498) – Editions Salabert (SLB00589800)
    • Scherzos opus 20, 31, 39, 54 (ISMN 979-0048041332) – Editions Salabert (SLB3836)
    • Opus Ballades 23, 38, 47, 52 (ISMN 979-0048005136) – Editions Salabert (SLB00383400)
    • Previous Opus 28 (ISMNN 979-0048005020) – EDITIONS SALEED (SLB38100)
    • Sonate Opus 35 – Editions Salabert (SLB00592100)
    • Sonate Opus 58 – Editions Salabert (SLB3853)
    • Night Opus 9, 15, 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62 (ISMN 979-0048060333) – Editions Salabert (SLB5921)
    • Waltzes (ISMN 979-0048041325) – Editions Salabert (SLB00383100)
    • Impromptus Opus 29, 36, 51 and Fantaisie-Imprumptu opus 66 (ISMN 979-0048041318)-Editions Salabert (SLB0038300)
    • Mazurkas Opus 59, 63, 67, 68 (ISMN 979-0048041394) – Editions Salabert (SLB00384600)
    • Polish (ISMN 979-0048003682) – Editions Salabert (SLB3828)
    • Fantation of Opus 49, Barcarol Retus 60, TArrent Opus 43, Berceus Opus 57 – Edition locations (SLB5415)
  • Alfred Cortot: work editions of Schumann’s works:
    • Variations sur le Name «Abegg» Opus 1 – Editions Salabert (SLB3910)
    • Opus Papillons 2 – Editions Salabert (SLB3911)
    • Carnival Opus 9 – Editions Salabert (SLB3912)
    • Humorusque opus 20 (ISMN 979-0048004290) – Editions Salabert (SLB00389000)
    • Children’s scenes Opus 15 (ISMN 979-0048004825) – Editions Salabert (SLB00391400)

Notes [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  1. ↑ ‘ ark:/36937/s005b004eb4d5b29 » , under the name Cortot Alfred (consulted the )
  2. ↑ Jean-Pierre Thiollet, 88 Solo piano notes , Neva Editions, (ISBN  978 2 3505 5192 0 ) , p. 50 .
  3. ↑ See the articles of Myriam Chimenes and Limore Yagil completely contradictory on this point.
  4. ↑ Former member of Action Française, one of the pillars of the collaboration group, Abel Bonnard has a very clearly collaborationist political line. He fled to Spain at Liberation.
  5. ↑ Precisely October 14, 1943 by decree.
  6. ↑ Myriam Chimenes ( p. 41 ) like Yannick Simon ( p. 64-85 ) who quotes chimenes, say that the order is “On the model of the Reichsmusikkammer” . Limore Yagil declares ( p. 124 ) yes “In his letter of January 26, 1943 addressed [to Abel Bonnard], he mentions [well] the measures taken by the German government for the professional organization of music […] at no time, he suggests the adoption of the model of the Reichsmusikkammer » . François Anselmini underlines that, in the same letter, Cortot specifies that “any other provision will not be able to satisfy as it is suitable for the needs and aspirations of the French musical corporation”. Anselmini concludes this note with: “The concrete organization of the” Cortot Committee “is in fact very close to that of the German body.” (Music in Paris under the Occupation, p.177)
  7. ↑ Arno Breker sculpted a bust of Cortot during this period.
  8. ↑ Furtwängler stayed in Germany during the Nazi period but has always considered an apolitical musician: see Wilhelm Furtwängler and his relations with the Nazi regime.
  9. ↑ Furtwängler carefully avoided coming to France during the occupation. He thus refused the invitation that Charles Munch had sent him. Munch had, in fact, been forced to write this letter by Goebbels. Indeed, Furtwängler had told Goebbels that he would only go to France if the French invited him (the Nazis were as eager to bring Furtwängler to France as Cortot in Germany). But Charles Munch subtly understood the situation at Furtwängler in his letter and Furtwängler did not fall into the trap. See Wilhelm Furtwängler and his relations with the Nazi regime.
  10. ↑ For comparison, his friend Wilhelm Furtwängler opposed the Nazi discriminatory measures twice in 1933 and 1934: see Wilhelm Furtwängler and his relations with the Nazi regime.
  11. ↑ The pianist Pierre Réach reports in 2013 on the blog of the mediator of the newspaper The world (see : Pierre reach, ‘ A dark appearance of Alfred Cortot » , on mediateur.blog.lemonde.fr , The world , ) Following an article by Marie-Aude Roux on the occasion of the fifty years of Cortot’s death (see: Marie-Aude Roux, ‘ Alfred Cortot’s thousand fingers » , on lemonde.fr , The world , ) that there is the lefébure of which he had been the student at the Paris Conservatory had brought him that Cortot had sent the Jewish musicians from his school and that she had resigned as a sign of protest (she returned to teach at the Cortot school after war until his appointment to the conservatory in 1952. See: Karine Le Bail, ‘ Granaries of memory » , on sites.radiofrance.fr , France Musique, ). The fact that Cortot played an active role in the dismissal of Jewish musicians from his school is not in the works of historians (see the bibliography). Anselmini only declares that Cortot bought in 1943 the actions of the normal school that certain “non-Aryans” possessed. On the other hand Anselmini declares that Cortot did not play any role in the eviction of Jewish musicians of the national orchestra unlike “persistent rumors”. See : François Anselmini, ‘ Afred cortot musicies you XX It is century, biographical perspectives » , International days Alfred Cortot, Tournus, July 4-8, 2012 , on journeescortot.fr , p. 38-39.
  12. ↑ a et b Jacques Canetti: We are looking for young man loving music , Calmann-Levy, 1978; He narrates there the cold and insensitive behavior of Cortot to the requests of aid presented to him by Françoise Rosay and Canetti himself, not without danger since the latter was Jewish.
  13. ↑ Limore Yagil ( p. 134 ) Considers as an “impossible mission” what Lazare-Lévy asked Cortot. In addition to being Jewish, his son had engaged in the resistance and had just been arrested by the Gestapo.
  14. ↑ Cortot appears several times in the Furtwängler concert list during the interwar period available on the website of the French company Wilhelm Furtwängler.
  15. ↑ (in) Fred K. PHODERG, Trial of strength, Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Third Reich , Quartet Books, 1991, Chapters I and VII, p. 149 .
  16. ↑ In 1933, Furtwängler invited many musicians, especially Jews to try to thwart Nazi cultural policy. All refused except Cortot.
  17. ↑ There are important differences between the two musicians, however. Among others, Furtwängler resigned from all his functions in 1934 and had no official function thereafter while Cortot multiplied them on the contrary under the Vichy regime. This difference is partly explained by the fact that Furtwängler has never had the slightest interest in the organization of musical life unlike Cortot. On the other hand, Furtwängler was aware of being used against his will for propaganda purposes. This is why, he sought by all means to avoid official representations which is not the case with Cortot.
  18. ↑ Gavoty tells: “Later, when I see him again, he will hold me a long harangue, based on disillusionment, without discouragement. I would sum it up with a sentence: “I had believed in good faith … I had hoped that … I was wrong – but that I was not told that what I built represents no interest. »»
  19. ↑ “Our National and International Cortot” in Chimenes and Simon, Music in Paris under the Occupation, 2013, p.179)
  20. ↑ André Tubeuf , Chopin preludes disc , I, , p. 3 .
  21. ↑ André Tubeuf , Chopin preludes disc , I, , p. 4 .
  22. ↑ See on ledevoir.com .
  23. ↑ In his book ” Horowitz “Glen Paskin writes: “The French master (Cortot) gave him (to Horowitz) occasionally some lessons and advice. It started in 1928 and continued on the next few years. »»
  24. ↑ Guthrie Luke conference : “On the piano with Cortot”, page 50.
  25. ↑ ‘ The Quebec Mozart » , on www.radio-danada.ca ,
  26. ↑ (in) Charles Timbrell , French pianism : A historical perspective , Kahn & Averill, , 370 p. (ISBN  978-1-871082-66-1 And 9781871082661 ) , p. 164 . ‘ Madame Bascourret had been the assistant of Cortot and Lefébure, and her students had included Éric Heidsieck, Jean-Paul Sevilla, Thierry de Brunhoff, and many others. She had a strong, radiant personality and was a very important figure for teaching in France, full of inner energy. »
  27. ↑ Je Mérôn Spiecket Clara Haskil , Payot editions
  28. ↑ See on lemonde.fr .

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  1. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 25: “Awakening (1877-1886)”
  2. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 26:
  3. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 30: “Not like the others”
  4. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 31: “Neither aptitude, nor preference …”
  5. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 35: “Learning (1886-1896)”
  6. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 47: “Long learning”
  7. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 38: “A pupil of Chopin”
  8. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 58: “Advice”
  9. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 52: “Revelation”
  10. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 176: “Glory”
  11. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 179: “252 concerts in America, 292 in England, 1425 in Europe and South America”
  12. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 179.
  13. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 180.
  14. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 185.
  15. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 187.
  16. ↑ A B C and D Gavoty 2012, p. 188
  17. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 189.
  18. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 190.
  19. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 191.
  20. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 196.
  21. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 203.
  22. ↑ A B and C Gavoty 2012, p. 192.
  23. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 194.
  24. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 193.
  25. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 186.
  26. ↑ A B C D and E Gavoty 2012, p. 200.
  27. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 201.
  28. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 202.
  29. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 204.
  30. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 198.
  31. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 182.
  32. ↑ a b c d e f and g Gavoty 2012, p. 208.
  33. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 207.
  34. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 209.
  35. ↑ A B and C Gavoty 2012, p. 210.
  36. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2011, p. 211.
  37. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 212.
  38. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 213.
  39. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 214.
  40. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 215.
  41. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 216.
  42. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 217.
  43. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 218.
  44. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 219.
  45. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 229.
  46. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 222
  47. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 226.
  48. ↑ A B C and D Gavoty 2012, p. 223.
  49. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 224.
  50. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 225.
  51. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 232.
  52. ↑ A B and C Gavoty 2012, p. 231.
  53. ↑ a et b Gavoty 2012, p. 235.
  54. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 236.
  55. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 284: “Awakening (1877-1886)”
  56. ↑ Gavoty 2012, p. 229: «Cortoshima»

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  1. ↑ A b c d e f g h i j and k ANSELMINI DIAPASON 2012, p. 24
  2. ↑ A B and C Chimenes 2001, p. 51
  3. ↑ A B C D and E ANSELMINI DIAPASON 2012, p. 25
  4. ↑ A B and C Chimenes 2001, p. 36
  5. ↑ A B C and D Chimenes 2001, p. 37
  6. ↑ Chimenes 2001, p. 44
  7. ↑ Chimenes 2001, p. 52
  8. ↑ a et b Chimenes 2001, p. 39
  9. ↑ Chimenes 2001, p. 38
  10. ↑ a et b Chimenes 2001, p. 41
  11. ↑ A B C D and E ANSELMINI DIAPASON 2012, p. 26
  12. ↑ A B and C Chimenes 2001, p. 45
  13. ↑ A B and C Chimenes 2001, p. forty six
  14. ↑ A B C and D Chimenes 2001, p. 47
  15. ↑ a b c d e f and g Chimenes 2001, p. 48
  16. ↑ A B C D and E Chimenes 2001, p. 49
  17. ↑ Chimenes 2001, p. 35
  18. ↑ A B and C ANSELMINI DIAPASON 2012, p. 22
  19. ↑ Perahia Diapason 2012, p. 25p
  20. ↑ A B and C ANSELMINI DIAPASON 2012, p. 27
  21. ↑ a et b Guide Diapason 1981, p. 259
  22. ↑ a et b Guide Diapason 1981, p. 253
  23. ↑ Jacobs Diapason 2012, p. 29
  24. ↑ a et b Guide Diapason 1981, p. 251
  25. ↑ a et b Jacobs Diapason 2012, p. 28
  26. ↑ Guide Diapason 1981, p. 106
  27. ↑ Guide Diapason 1981, p. 533
  28. ↑ Guide Diapason 1981, p. 745
  29. ↑ Rémi Jacobs , Tuning fork , , p. 29 .

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  1. ↑ A B C and D Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 14
  2. ↑ A B C and D Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 15
  3. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 17
  4. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 18
  5. ↑ A B and C Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 19
  6. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 21
  7. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 23
  8. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 29
  9. ↑ A B and C Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 26
  10. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 27
  11. ↑ a et b Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 28
  12. ↑ A B and C Yagil 2012, p. 125
  13. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. thirty first
  14. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 119
  15. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 135
  16. ↑ A B C and D Yagil 2012, p. 121
  17. ↑ A B and C Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 37
  18. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 122
  19. ↑ a et b Yagil 2012, p. 124
  20. ↑ A B and C Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 35
  21. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 36
  22. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 126
  23. ↑ a et b Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 38
  24. ↑ a et b Yagil 2012, p. 129
  25. ↑ A B and C Yagil 2012, p. 127
  26. ↑ a et b Yagil 2012, p. 128
  27. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 130
  28. ↑ Yagil 2012, p. 131
  29. ↑ A B and C Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 40
  30. ↑ A B C D and E Yagil 2012, p. 117
  31. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 41
  32. ↑ A B C D and E Bellamy 2012
  33. ↑ a et b Bleu Piano 2012
  34. ↑ Breton Universalis 2011 “We have sometimes criticized certain technical approximations and, in particular towards the end of his life, the multiplication of false notes. »»
  35. ↑ “His piano genius is comparable to that of Furtwängler to the orchestra. »» [ in 32 ]
  36. ↑ Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 13
  37. ↑ a et b Anselmini Tournus 2012, p. 34
  38. ↑ Miciathenque musical mahler 2012
  39. ↑ RTS 1953

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

: document used as a source for writing this article.

Books [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  • Francis Anselmini and Rémi Jacobs , Afred cortot , Paris, Fayard, coll. ” Music “, , 350 p. (ISBN  978-2-213-70166-0 , BNF  45588931 , Online presentation )
  • Bernard Gavoty , Alfred Cortot, biography , Paris, Buchet-Chastel, coll. ” Music “, , 2 It is ed. ( first re ed. 1977), 378 p. (ISBN  978-2-283-02604-5 , BNF  42672905 )
  • Christian Understanding , Large art with false notes: Alfred Cortot, piano , Seyssel, Vallon field, coll. ” Collection “, , 204 p. (ISBN  978-2-87673-520-0-0 , BNF  42126197 , Online presentation )
  • Jean-Luc Tingaud , Cortot-Thibaud-Casals, one trio, three soloists , Paris, Josette Lyon, coll. “The creative performers”, , 194 p. (ISBN  978-2-84319-028-5 , BNF  37210383 )
  • Jean-Pierre Thiollet, “Cortot always at the highest” in 88 Solo piano notes , Neva Éditions, 2015, p. 22 and following. (ISBN  978 2 3505 5192 0 ) .
  • Limore Yagil, In the name of art: 1933-1945: exile, solidarity and commitments, Fayard 2015, p. 294-353. (ISBN  978 2213680897 ) .

Collective articles or publications [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  • Francis Anselmini , Rémi Jacobs , Murray As well as et al. « Alfred Cortot, shadows and lights of a piano legend », Diapason magazine , n O 605, , p. 22-32
  • Myriam Chimenes , “Alfred Cortot and the musical policy of the Vichy government” , in Myriam Chimenes (dir.) et al ., Musical life under Vichy , Brussels, complex editions, coll. “History of the present time”, , 420 p. (ISBN  2-87027-864-0 , BNF  37684437 , read online ) , p. 36-52
  • Guide Diapason , «Alfred Cortot» , In Dictionary of Diapason discs: Critical Guide to recorded classical music , Paris, Robert Laffont editions, coll. “Bouquins”, , 420 p. (ISBN  2-2221-50233-7 , BNF  34655063 )

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