Blandine Verlet


Blandine Verlet was a French harpsichordist and a harpsichord teacher, who is known internationally for her recordings of works by François Couperin.

Career

Born in Paris into a musical family of art historians and conservators, she was the seventh of ten children, and in 1957, gained admission to the Conservatoire de Paris, studying piano and harpsichord. Having decided on her specialty, she studied harpsichord with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris, Ruggero Gerlin in Siena and with Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University. A significant competition prize in Paris in 1963 led to engagements in Italy and Germany.
Verlet was widely praised for her recordings of Bach's music, including the Goldberg Variations. She is perhaps best known for having played the music of her compatriot François Couperin, displaying exceptional sensitivity and imagination. Verlet recorded Couperin's complete works in the 1970s and '80s, and in late 2011 she returned to re-record five 'ordres' on the period Henri Hemsch harpsichord. Verlet wrote a poem in celebration of Couperin which accompanied the release, the closing lines of which exemplify her great imaginative empathy with this key French composer:
During the 1980s Verlet taught at the Conservatoire Claude Debussy in Paris, the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré de GrandAngoulême, and the Conservatoire de Bordeaux.
Verlet died at the age of 76.

Personal life

Blandine Verlet's father, Pierre Verlet, was the head of the decorative arts department of the Louvre from 1933 to 1972; her mother, Nicole Verlet-Réaubourg, was an art historian; and her sister, Colombe Samoyault-Verlet, was also a historian and conservator.
Her husband, Igor B. Maslowski, was the director of Philips France as well as a Russian translator and mystery writer.

Discography