Rediscovering Eugène Ysaÿe

Marie Cornaz

Monday, May 31, 2021

We have received the following from Marie Cornaz (RISM Belgium, Section de la Musique - Muziekafdeling, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique - Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België):

We have to pleasure to inform you about the publication of a biography on the violinist, pedagogue, composer, conductor and concert organizer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), a central and emblematic figure in the Belgian and international music scene of the 1880s and the five decades that followed. He was in contact with the greatest musicians of his time, such as Bloch, Busoni, Casals, Cortot, Enesco, Grieg, Kreisler, Rachmaninov and Rubinstein. He defended the music of Chausson, Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Indy, Jongen, Lekeu, Saint-Saëns and many others in Europe, but also in Russia and the United States. He also established himself as a composer, writing from his beginnings until his last breath, and as a teacher, helping a multitude of young violinists to flourish in their career as a performer or teacher.

À la redécouverte d’Eugène Ysaÿe, by Marie Cornaz, targets an audience of both specialists and interested readers. It is chronologically structured in five richly illustrated chapters and also includes two appendixes, the first a detailed overview of all his compositions, the second on all his students. Using a large number of different sources (manuscripts, letters, press-clippings, etc.), some of which were never published before, this biography retraces the history of this multifaceted artist as well as the personal journey of a man who experimented, suffered, loved and doubted.

Category: New publications