Aline van Barentzen


Aline van Barentzen was a Franco-American classical pianist.

Biography

Van Berentzen was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and gave her first concert at the age of four. At a young age, her mother took her to Paris to pursue formal music training. At age seven, she played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 and, at nine, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris. There, her teachers were Marguerite Long, Mrs. Marcou and Élie-Miriam Delaborde. In 1909, at only eleven years of age, she was awarded a First Prize at the Paris Conservatory piano competition, a record that still holds today :
She then continued her training with Heinrich Barth and Ernst von Dohnanyi in Berlin, where she also met young Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff. She completed her training in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky.
She eventually settled in Paris, where she was surrounded by many prominent musicians and composers of the time. She played works by Enesco, Poulenc, Messiaen, Roussel and Heitor Villa-Lobos. On 24 October 1927, she premiered Villa-Lobos' Chôros No. 8 at the Concerts Colonne in Paris with, under the direction of the composer.
She gave concerts throughout Europe and recorded for His Master's Voice.
In the early 1930s, she applied for and obtained French citizenship, remaining in Paris through the Occupation.
Van Barentzen taught throughout her life, first at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (Argentina). In 1954, she was appointed professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory, a position she held until 1967. Among her pupils were Jean-Philippe Collard, Bernard Job and Cyprien Katsaris.
She premiered works by Henri Martelli, Florent Schmitt, and Villa-Lobos'.
She also composed for piano under her birth name, Aline Hoyle.
She died in the 16th arrondissement of Paris on 30 October 1981.

Discography

Selected recordings:
Sound documents: