The Marquise of the Piano

Opening the school to students of either sex was one of the Conservatoire’s great advances, also reflected in the teaching staff: as soon as the school opened, Hélène de Montgeroult was appointed piano professor in a boys’ class. Extraordinary as it may seem, the choice of a woman is less surprising than that of an aristocrat at the heart of an institution so closely associated with the nascent Republic. This singularity and the many obstacles to her appointment bear witness to the exceptional character of this avant-garde pianist who mapped out the future in her Études.