Antoine François Marmontel


Antoine François Marmontel was a French pianist, teacher and musicographer.

Life and career

Marmontel was born in Clermont-Ferrand. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1827. His teachers were Pierre Zimmerman in pianoforte, Victor Dourlen in harmony, Jacques Fromental Halévy in fugue and Jean-François Le Sueur in composition. He achieved first prizes in theory of music and piano. In 1837, he became an assistant in theory of music at the Conservatory. In 1848 he succeeded Zimmerman as Professor of Keyboard at the Conservatory, beating his former teacher Charles-Valentin Alkan, and as a consequence derailing the latter's career. His memoir of his sometime colleague in his book 'Les pianistes célèbres' is nonetheless one of the most valuable sources for Alkan's biography.
Marmontel achieved renown as an effective and imaginative teacher. He had many pupils including Antoine Simon, Georges Bizet, Vincent d'Indy, Théodore Dubois, Dominique Ducharme, Gustave Gagnon, Ernest Guiraud, Émile Paladilhe, Edward MacDowell, Gabriel Pierné, Paul Rougnon, Paul Wachs, Louis Diémer, Francis Planté, André Wormser, Marguerite Long, Zulema Garcia Olsen and Claude Debussy.
Marmontel's career is marked by a great number of pedagogical works as well as nocturnes, romances and many other pieces. Notably, he published L'Art de déchiffrer ; École élémentaire de mécanisme et de style in 1847 ; Étude de mécanisme ; Cinq études de salon ; L'Art de déchiffrer à quatre mains in 1847 ; and Enseignement progressif et rationnel du piano in 1887.
Marmontel's musicographical works number among the best sources for the history of piano and pianists, particularly for the 19th century. They include his Symphonistes et virtuoses in 1880; Les Pianistes célèbres in 1878; Virtuoses contemporains in 1882; Éléments d'esthétique musicale et considérations sur le beau dans les arts in 1884; and Histoire du piano et de ses origines in 1885. He died in Paris.
Marmontel's son was also a piano teacher at the Conservatoire. He wrote many salon pieces.