Anna Caroline Oury (née De Belleville), also known as Ninette de Belleville, Ninette von Belleville or Ninette de Belleville-Oury (24 January 1806[1] – 22 July 1880), was a German pianist and composer of French ancestry.
Anna Caroline Oury | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Anna Caroline Oury | |
| Born | 24 January 1806 |
| Died | 22 July 1880 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation(s) | pianist, composer |
Life and career
editAnna Caroline de Belleville, often referred to as "Ninette", was born in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. She was the daughter of a French aristocrat who was the director of the national Court Opera in Mannheim.[2] She studied with Carl Czerny in Vienna between 1816 and 1820, where she met Beethoven and heard him improvise.[3] In 1829 she traveled to Warsaw where Chopin heard her play impressively enough for him to write about it in a letter, praising her "excellent" playing for its lightness and elegance.[4] Twelve years later, in 1841, Chopin dedicated his Waltz in F minor, Op. Posth. 70, No. 2, to Mme. Oury, though it went unpublished until 1855.
In July 1831 she made her London debut in Her Majesty's Theatre with Niccolò Paganini and in October she married Antonio James Oury (1800–1883), a violinist at the King's Theatre in London and the two toured as a duo.[5][6][7] They performed in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Russia between 1831 and 1839 before settling in England, excepting a concert tour of Italy in 1846–7. Working with her husband, she helped to create the Brighton Musical Union in 1847, a club for chamber music modeled after the London Musical Union.[8] The remainder of Anna Caroline Oury's career was spent focusing on composition until her retirement in 1866, writing approximately 180 works for piano in this time.[9] Oury died in Munich in 1880 at the age of 74.
Works
editOury published more than 200 works, including a number of transcriptions. Selected works include:
- Souvenir d'Edinbourg (arrangement)
- Fantasie on the opera "L'Africaine"
- La Chasse de Compiegne
- Plaintes de I'Absence
- Marche Ecossaise
- Valse brillante
- Nocturne[10]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Landshut, St. Martin, CB213, M3865, fol. 1460.
- ^ "Persons Related to Chopin". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- ^ Fuller-Maitland, J.A. and Andrew Lamb Oury, Anna Caroline, Grove Music Online.
- ^ Golberg, Halina (2008) Music in Chopin's Warsaw, New York: Oxford University Press, 281.
- ^ Comini, Alessandra (2008). The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking.
- ^ Thomas, Joseph (1908). "Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology, Volume".
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Fuller-Maitland, J.A. and Andrew Lamb Oury, Anna Caroline, Grove Music.
- ^ Bashford, Christina Oury, Antonio James, Grove Music.
- ^ Fuller-Maitland, J.A. and Andrew Lamb Oury, Anna Caroline, Grove Music.
- ^ Ebel, Otto (1902). "Women composers:a biographical handbook of women's work in music". Retrieved 16 October 2010.