Some Thoughts on Robert Casadesus (1899-1972)

Many music lovers cherish the memory of concerts given by Robert Casadesus, ranging from aristocratic performances of the concerto repertoire, solo piano recitals and chamber music. Probably more than any other other pianist appearing in the mid-20^th century, Casadesus seemed to possess a unique understanding of the the works of French composers, as well as of Chopin and Schumann. Yet the range of his musical interests and sympathies was quite wide, stopping just short of the warhorses of the Russian school. For those of us with a particular love of Faure, Debussy and Ravel, Casadesus’ performances were cherished as a link with a tradition which seemed to have disappeared by the end of the 1930s. Happily, many of his superb recordings of Debussy, Ravel, Chopin and Mozart are being reissued and coming to the attention of a younger generation of musicians and music lovers.

Casadesus was born into a musical family whose many branches and varied talents bring to mind other famous musical families from an earlier age, such as the Bachs and the Couperins. Born and educated in Paris, he entered the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, winning prizes in piano and composition. He began a concert career in 1917, winning international fame, coming to America to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini in 1935. As a teacher he had a long association with the Conservatoire Americain at Fontainebleau, an institution especially known for the presence of Nadia Boulanger, who took over the directorship from Casadesus in 1952. This association with young Americans perhaps prepared him for increasing activity in the United States, where for many years he made his home after 1940----in Princeton.

The advent of the Second World War brought a number of remarkable people to Princeton----they did not all go to California! The range of the intellectual and artistic community, impressive to this day, must have been remarkable, ranging from Thomas Mann (who DID eventually gravitate to the Golden State), to Roger Sessions, and Albert Einstein, himself a keen amateur musician---with whom Casadesus was to perform chamber music.

Prof. Edward Cone has written an affectionate recollection of Robert Casadesus, particularly interesting in its comments about his activities as a composer, which have remained too little recognised to this day. He writes that Casadesus “humorously disparaged his works, mocking them as old-fashioned and hence not a healthy model for students of today. Once when I went to congratulate him after hearing one of his elegant concertos performed in New York, he laughingly insisted that it was ‘something out of the Middle Ages.’”

Casadesus’ compositional style is usually described as masterful in craftsmanship, of a general

neo-classical idiom reflective of a generation of French musicians who came of age in the day of Ravel and Stravinsky. The range of his catalogue of works takes one’s breath away: some 70 opus numbers, including seven symphonies, four piano sonatas, eight concertos (including works for flute, violin and cello), several dozen chamber works, songs and various orchestral works. All that and a concert career as well! A final judgment upon Casadesus the composer awaits a comprehensive study of this great body of work. But, to use a word always stressed by his friend, Nadia Boulanger, the achievements of an artist of such gifts and artistic vision should be shown ATTENTION.