Pianophilia

Apart from Marmontel (and possibly Fétis) I can't see any reference to Mereaux and his studies in the various old books about pianists and piano music, while Alkan is at least quoted in many parts. No mention of his name in any italian book about Busoni or in his letters or papers. May be he was (rightly) considered out of fashion even in the second part of 19th century. A deep research about him and a possible evolution of piano technique in his works should be very desirable.

It would certainly be very interesting to know more about which of his contemporaries and compatriots knew what about Méreaux (most espeically figures such as Chopin, Alkan and Liszt) and it is indeed fascinating to see this work - but, frankly, it strikes me as being of no more than passing historical interest, most especially when compared to the work of Alkan wherein the sheer expressive power of the music itself can almost always be guaranteed to ride roughshod over any technical difficulties for the pianists, however fearsome these difficulties may be. Martin Anderson has better things to do, methinks, than to get someone to record this material; his valuable and fascinating ongoing traversal of the complete pedalier/organ music of Alkan with organist Kevin Bowyer, for example, may be giving us rather less than Alkan at his ultimate best (although some real serious gems are strewn among the two CDs currently out - highly recommended!), but this is largely music of real substance rather than the pages and pages of notes occasionally punctuated by serious finger-busting opportunitites that seem to be the best that Méreaux can offer.

Best,

Alistair

Just because today's literature is largely bereft of historical context does not mean that a particular composer was obscure in his time. Mereaux was chosen by Moscheles and Fetis to contribute to the 1840 Method des Methodes (Alkan was not), along with Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Heller, Henselt and others. Schlesinger also published an Album des Pianistes with previously unpublished works of Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin and Mereaux, among others. A scan of his contribution, a fantasy on a Chopin mazurka, is on IMSLP, courtesy of Robin Commagere.

I have heard from 2 separate sources, not necessarily independent, that Katsaris has already recorded a Mereaux etudes CD, presumably for his personal label Piano21.

alpha wrote: I have heard from 2 separate sources, not necessarily independent, that Katsaris has already recorded a Mereaux etudes CD, presumably for his personal label Piano21.

Hmmm... thanks for that. A pianist of Katsaris's abilities and charisma will certainly make the best case for Mereaux, though having read through a few of these etudes (at glacial tempo of course), it is definitely a case of 'modified rapture' and I would tend to agree with ahinton's assessment. I find it hard to believe that at full tempo -unlike Alkan- these etudes are going to find pride of place as undiscovered masterpieces- though alpha, I do not think you're making any such claims for them here. But we'll wait and see what Katsaris comes up with.

Op. XXXIX wrote:

alpha wrote: I have heard from 2 separate sources, not necessarily independent, that Katsaris has already recorded a Mereaux etudes CD, presumably for his personal label Piano21.

Hmmm... thanks for that. A pianist of Katsaris's abilities and charisma will certainly make the best case for Mereaux, though having read through a few of these etudes (at glacial tempo of course), it is definitely a case of 'modified rapture' and I would tend to agree with ahinton's assessment. I find it hard to believe that at full tempo -unlike Alkan- these etudes are going to find pride of place as undiscovered masterpieces- though alpha, I do not think you're making any such claims for them here. But we'll wait and see what Katsaris comes up with.

Or indeed even what he comes down with, if the commitment of enough of them to fill up an entire CD makes him ill (which naturally one hopes will not be the case).

I've had another look through this Méreaux collection and the more I do so the more dispiriting the experience becomes; if Amédée, then Wolfgang, perhaps. I even wonder quite what value some of them have from a purely pedagogical standpoint, their overall impression being by turns freakish, wearisome and just occasionally interesting but almost exclusively lacking in the level of musical substance that we have come to know in the études of Chopin, Alkan, Liszt and a good many of his other contemporaries. I remain curious what the three that I named here might have thought of his work...

Best,

Alistair

The fact that Mereaux is not even quoted in the first edition of Grove's is revealing of his unpopularity among musicians towards the end of the century. I've found just a little review of his Fantasy op.42 on a theme from 'La Juive', written by Schumann, 1835. As usual S. is not very soft with his colleagues and becomes arrogant if the colleague writes fantasies on opera themes (but in the next pages he cannot hide his admiration for Thalberg).
Sorry, only in italian.

Mereaux's biography appears in the 1889 Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, as follows:

MEREAUX, (JEAN) AMEDEE (LE FROID DE), born in Paris in 1803, died at Rouen, April 25, 1874 Pianist and writer on music, son and pupil of Joseph Nicolas Mereaux, and pupil of Reicha in composition ; travelled through France on a concert tour about 1830 ; lived in London in 1832-34, and settled at Rouen about 1835, to teach his instrument. Legion of Honour in 1868. Madame Tardieu de Malleville and Clara Loveday are among his pupils. He was a contributor to the Journal de Rouen for thirty years. Works : Mass; Cantatas ; Choruses ; 5 books of pianoforte Etudes ; Other compositions, over 90 in all. He published also Les clavecinistes de 1637 a 1790 (Paris, 1867) ; Varieties litteraires et musicales (Paris, 1878); and articles in musical journals.—Fetis; do., Supplement, ii. 211 ; Mendel, Erganz., 275.

A similar biography also appears in Ernst Pauer's Dictionary of Pianists and Composers, of 1895.

(FYI Clara Loveday was the dedicatee of Alkan's Bourree d'Auvergne)

alpha wrote:(FYI Clara Loveday was the dedicatee of Alkan's Bourree d'Auvergne)

... and Linda Lovelace was something very different! (Monty Python)

alpha wrote:Just because today's literature is largely bereft of historical context does not mean that a particular composer was obscure in his time. Mereaux was chosen by Moscheles and Fetis to contribute to the 1840 Method des Methodes (Alkan was not), along with Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Heller, Henselt and others. Schlesinger also published an Album des Pianistes with previously unpublished works of Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin and Mereaux, among others. A scan of his contribution, a fantasy on a Chopin mazurka, is on IMSLP, courtesy of Robin Commagere.

I have heard from 2 separate sources, not necessarily independent, that Katsaris has already recorded a Mereaux etudes CD, presumably for his personal label Piano21.

I have checked this out and Katsaris will indeed be releasing (only) five of these studies [:o( ] for his Piano21 label next year on a 'French Rarities' disc. Though I will reserve my own judgement until I hear them, his agent has said they sound not quite like anyone else, but with forehints of Godowsky and Rachmaninov (this was his personal subjective view I should add, and I would think not a view on which to place one's expectations).

4candles wrote: his agent has said they sound not quite like anyone else, but with forehints of Godowsky and Rachmaninov ...

Godowsky? Rachmaninov? Methinks that's pushing the envelope a bit, but good news about the Katsaris recording...