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L’Education Musicale, March 2009 (Sylvianne Falcinelli) Jérôme Dorival does not exaggerate in hearing prefigurations of Chopin, Schumann, and even Brahms (Etude n° 104) in the most modern of the etudes composed between 1788 and 1810 for the Cours complet pour l’enseignement du fortepiano. Even the Sonatas, which more or less […]

Hélène de Montgeroult – À la source du piano romantique


L’Education Musicale, March 2009 (Sylvianne Falcinelli) Jérôme Dorival does not exaggerate in hearing prefigurations of Chopin, Schumann, and even Brahms (Etude n° 104) in the most modern of the etudes composed between 1788 and 1810 for the Cours complet pour l’enseignement du fortepiano. Even the Sonatas, which more or less […]

Hélène de Montgeroult – À la source du piano romantique ...


Livre, Symétrie, 2006, by Jérôme Dorival and a CD, Hortus, 2006. Bruno Robilliard, piano Haunting works of great beauty… Her life was like a novel: she taught at the Conservatoire and avoided the guillotine during the Terror, pleading her case by playing La Marseillaise; she was the friend of Madame […]

Hélène de Montgeroult, La Marquise et la Marseillaise



Sarette
Bernard Sarrette (1765-1858) founded and directed the Institut national de musique (the National Institute of Music) in 1793. Today it is the National Superior Music Conservatory of Paris. Our interest in Bernard Sarrette is related to the support he provided to Hélène de Montgeroult. He vigorously intervened on her behalf […]

Bernard Sarrette’s support of Hélène de Montgeroult


Sébastien Érard (1752-1831) and his brother Jean-Baptiste founded the Érard company. They built high-quality harpsichords, fortepianos, and harps, and invented the double escapement mechanism (which allows the player to rapidly repeat a note, and which was subsequently adopted by all piano companies) in 1822. They also invented the modern system […]

Sébastien Érard, Founder of a Dynasty


Arrestation des ambassadeurs
On 25 July 1793, Sémonville and Maret were arrested in Novate Mezzola in Italy, near the Swiss border, by mercenaries working for Austria. The entire diplomatic delegation, including Hélène de Montgeroult and her husband, were captured. The Marquis de Montgeroult, who may be the person wearing the plumed hat in […]

The Ambassadors’ Arrest


Comité central de salut public
Hélène de Montgeroult was saved from the guillotine when a delegation from the Institut national de musique, led by Bernard Sarrette, intervened on her behalf before the Committee of Public Safety. Composers belonging to the institute included Méhul, Martini? Cherubini, and Gossec. The episode was recounted by the horn player […]

The Committee of Public Safety



Château de Montgeroult
Hélène de Nervo was born 2 March 1764 at the Hôtel de Nervo. This house is located on the rue de la Charité in the 2nd district of Lyons, across from the “Musée des Tissus”. Her family moved to the rue de l’Échiquier in Paris the following year. She married […]

Hélène de Montgeroult’s residences


After the accidental death of her third husband, Count Édouard Dunod de Charnage, in 1826, Hélène de Montgeroult’s health declined. She left Paris in 1834 along with her son, and the two of them settled in Italy, first in Padua, then in Pisa, and finally in Florence, where she died […]

Grave of Hélène de Nervo, Marchionesse de Montgeroult, Countess de ...