Huguette Dreyfus

Dreyfus in May 2006

Huguette Dreyfus (30 November 1928 – 16 May 2016) was a French harpsichordist.^[1]

Biography

Dreyfus began taking piano lessons at the age of four years. In 1946, she began working with renowned piano teacher Lazare Lévy. In 1950, having learned that music historian Norbert Dufourcq was to give special classes on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (in recognition of the bicentennial of Bach's death) at the Conservatoire de Paris, she entered into the class and remained there for four years. In addition to her piano class, she also studied the harpsichord at the Académie Chigiana de Siena under Ruggero Gerlin, who was a student of harpsichord-reviver Wanda Landowska.

In 1958, Dreyfus won the Geneva international harpsichord competition, becoming a prominent figure of ancient Renaissance and Baroque music and of the revival of the harpsichord in France. Her favorite instrument was a harpsichord from Johann Heinrich Hemsch, a German harpsichord maker. His best instruments were made in Paris in the 18th century and are often comparable to those made by Blanchet, another celebrated harpsichord maker.

Dreyfus taught at the Schola Cantorum, at the Sorbonne in Paris, and at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Lyon (CNSMD de Lyon). She taught as well at the International Academy of Organ and old music of Saint-Maxima-la-Sainte-Baume, and at the Villecroze Academie de Musique.

References