Dinu Lipatti | |
|---|---|
 Dinu Lipatti | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Constantin Lipatti 1 April [O.S. 19 March] 1917 |
| Died | 2 December 1950(1950-12-02) (aged 33) |
| Genres | Classical Music |
| Occupation | Pianist • Composer |
| Labels | EMI |
| Formerly of | The Romanian Academy |
Constantin "Dinu"Lipatti (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈdinuliˈpati]ⓘ; 1 April [O.S. 19 March] 1917 – 2 December 1950) was a Romanianclassical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related toHodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to theRomanian Academy. He composed few works, all of which demonstrated a strong influence from Hungarian composerBéla Bartok.[1]
A relentless perfectionist, Lipatti often prepared many years for major performances, such as four years forBeethoven'sPiano Concerto No. 5 and three forTchaikovsky'sPiano Concerto No. 1. He left asmall number of recordings, and they are well-regarded, particularly that ofAlborada del gracioso fromRavel'sMiroirs suite. In his short lifetime he was highly acclaimed by prominent musical figures of the20th century, includingYehudi Menuhin,Alfred Cortot,Nadia Boulanger, andFrancis Poulenc.[1]
Constantin Lipatti (from childhood called by the diminutive "Dinu") was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist who had studied withPablo de Sarasate andCarl Flesch,[2] his mother a pianist. For his baptism, which occurred not shortly after birth as is usual, but when he was old enough to play the piano, the violinist and composerGeorge Enescu agreed to be his godfather. Lipatti played a minuet byMozart at his own baptism.[2]
He studied at theGheorghe Lazăr High School, while studying piano and composition withMihail Jora for three years. He then attended theBucharest Conservatoire, studying underFlorica Musicescu, who also taught him privately.[2] In June 1930, the best pupils at the Conservatoire gave a concert at theBucharest Opera, and the 13-year-old Lipatti received a huge ovation for his performance of theGriegPiano Concerto in A minor.[2] In 1932 he won prizes for his compositions: a Piano Sonatina, and a Sonatina for Violin and Piano. That year he also won a Grand Prize for his symphonic suiteLes Tziganes.[2]
He entered the 1933Vienna International Piano Competition and finished second to Polish pianistBolesław Kon, some say controversially.Alfred Cortot, who thought Lipatti should have won, resigned from the jury in protest.[3] Lipatti subsequently studied inParis under Cortot,Nadia Boulanger (with whom he recorded some ofBrahms'sWaltzes Op. 39),Paul Dukas (composition) andCharles Munch (conducting). At eighteen, Lipatti gave his recital debut in Paris at the École Normale. On 17 May 1935, three days before the concert, his friend and teacher, Paul Dukas, died and in his memory Lipatti opened his program withJ. S. Bach'sJesu, Joy of Man's Desiring in the transcription byMyra Hess,[2] the first piece he publicly performed as an adult pianist.
Lipatti's career was interrupted byWorld War II. Although he gave concerts across theNazi-occupied territories, as the war grew closer he fled his native Romania in September 1943 with his companion and fellow pianist, Madeleine Cantacuzene. With the aid ofEdwin Fischer he emigrated toGeneva,Switzerland, where he accepted a position as professor of piano at theGeneva Conservatory.[4] His pupils at the conservatory includedCharles Reiner[5] andBéla Síki.[6]
It was while teaching at the Geneva Conservatory in the 1940s that the first signs of Lipatti's illness emerged. At first, doctors were baffled, and in 1947 he was diagnosed withHodgkin's disease.[7] He and Madeleine married in 1948 as Lipatti's health continued to decline.[4] As a result, his public performances became considerably less frequent after the war. His energy level was improved for a time by then experimental injections of cortisone and his collaboration with record producerWalter Legge andColumbia Graphophone/EMI of the UK between 1947 and 1950 resulted in the majority of the recordings of Lipatti's playing.[8]
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Lipatti gave his final recital, also recorded, on 16 September 1950 at the Besançon Festival in France. Despite severe illness and a high fever, he gave superb performances of Bach's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, Mozart's A minor Sonata, K. 310,Schubert's G-flat major and E-flat major Impromptus, Op. 90, and thirteen of the fourteenChopinWaltzes which he played in his own integral order. Coming to the last one, No. 2 in A-flat, he found he was too exhausted to play it and he offered insteadJesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, the piece with which he had begun his professional career only fifteen years before. He died less than 3 months later in Geneva aged 33, from a burst abscess on his one lung.[7] Lipatti is buried at the cemetery ofChêne-Bourg next to his wife Madeleine (1908–1982), a noted piano teacher.[citation needed]
Lipatti's piano playing is widely appreciated for the absolute purity of his interpretations, at the service of which he used a masterful pianistic technique. Lipatti is particularly noted for his interpretations of Chopin, Mozart and Bach, and he also made recordings ofRavel'sAlborada del Gracioso,Liszt,Enescu, and theSchumann and Grieg piano concertos. His recording of Chopin's Waltzes has remained in print since its release and has long been a favorite of many classical music-lovers.[citation needed]
Lipatti never recorded any ofBeethoven's music. It is a common misconception, however, that Lipatti did not perform Beethoven's music until late in his career. TheWaldstein Sonata had been a feature of Lipatti's repertoire since 1935. He also performed theEmperor Concerto in Bucharest twice during the 1940–41 season, and even stood ready to record it for EMI in 1949. An internal memo from Lipatti's recording producerWalter Legge, dated 23 February 1948, states that "Lipatti ha[d] his heart set on doing a Beethoven Concerto in 1949" and nominates theEmperor Concerto, given that Lipatti had already performed it.[citation needed]
A recording of Chopin'sPiano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, originally released under Lipatti's name, and said to have been a recording of a live performance in Switzerland in May 1948, proved not to be his contribution at all. In 1981, it emerged that the soloist on this recording was in fact aPolish pianist (and a fellowCortot pupil),Halina Czerny-Stefańska, the joint winner of the 4thInternational Chopin Piano Competition, playing with theCzech Philharmonic Orchestra underVáclav Smetáček. However, later on, an authentic recording by Lipatti of the Chopin Concerto was found.[9]
Harold C. Schonberg wrote in 1953 "Lipatti, a master of the keyboard, would have developed into one of the supreme artists of this era. He was a pianist of the Rachmaninoff order, blessed with an enormous technique and a strong rhythmic sense."[10]
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to classical music interpretation and composition he was posthumously elected in 1997 as a member of theRomanian Academy.[11] In 2005,The Mountain Goats released a song in his honor, titled "Dinu Lipatti's Bones".[12] In 2017 Lipatti admirerOrlando Murrin discovered the only known film footage of Lipatti, at a Lucerne garden party in 1947 withPaul Hindemith and other musicians, which was screened at London'sCadogan Hall that November.[13]
As of 2025[update] Lipatti's home at Bulevardul Lascăr Catargiu 10 is part of the Municipal Museum of Bucharest. The municipality named it Casa Artelor Dinu Lipatti in 2017 with a mandate as a cultural center, but later became part of the Municipal Museum under the name Casa Memorială Dinu Lipatti.[14][15]
In addition to his pianistic accomplishments, Lipatti was a composer, who wrote in aneoclassical style with French and Romanian influences. His works include:
