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Dinu Lipatti (19 March 1917 – 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was tragically cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. Despite his short career and a relatively small recorded legacy, Lipatti is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century.

Biography

Lipatti was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist, his mother a pianist, and his godfather was the violinist and composer George Enescu. He studied at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School, and finished second at the 1934 Vienna International Piano Competition, which led to Alfred Cortot, who thought Lipatti should have won, resigning from the jury in protest. Lipatti subsequently studied in Paris under Cortot, Nadia Boulanger (with whom he recorded some of Johannes Brahms's Waltzes Op. 39), Paul Dukas (composition) and Charles Münch (conducting).

Lipatti's career was interrupted by World War II. Although he continued to give concerts throughout Europe, including Nazi-occupied territories, he eventually fled his native Romania in 1943 and settled with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland, where he accepted the position as piano professor at the conservatory. It was at this time that the first signs of his illness emerged. At first, doctors were baffled, but in 1947 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. As a result, his public performances became considerably less frequent after the war.

Lipatti gave his final recital, which was recorded, on 16 September 1950 in Besançon, France. Despite severe illness, he gave unmatched performances of Bach’s B flat major Partita, Mozart’s A minor Sonata, Schubert's G flat major and E flat major Impromptus, and thirteen of Chopin's 14 Waltzes. He excluded No. 2, which he was too exhausted to play; he offered instead Myra Hess’s transcription of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. He died less than 3 months later, in Geneva. Lipatti is buried at the cemetery of Chêne-Bourg next to his wife Madeleine, a noted piano teacher.

Repertoire

Lipatti's playing was hailed as having reached the highest degree of integrity and pianistic technique, which he employed in the quest for musical perfection.

Lipatti is particularly noted for his interpretations of Chopin, Mozart and Bach, but he also made recordings of Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso, Liszt, Enescu, the Schumann Piano Concerto, and the Grieg Piano Concerto. His recording of Chopin's Waltzes has remained in print since its release and has long been a favorite of many classical music-lovers.

Lipatti never recorded any music of Beethoven. It is a common misconception, however, that Lipatti did not perform Beethoven's music until late in his career. In fact, Lipatti had performed the Emperor Concerto in Bucharest twice during the 1940-41 season, and even stood ready to record it for EMI in 1949. Thus, an internal memo from Lipatti's recording producer Walter Legge, dated February 23, 1948, states that "Lipatti ha his heart set on doing a Beethoven Concerto in 1949" and nominates the Emperor Concerto given that Lipatti had already performed it. Similarly, Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata had been a fixture of Lipatti's repertoire since 1935.

A recording of Chopin's Piano 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 a Polish pianist (and a fellow Cortot pupil), Halina Czerny-Stefańska, the joint winner of the 4th International Chopin Piano Competition, playing with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Václav Smetáček. However, later on, an authentic recording by Lipatti of the Chopin Concerto was found.

Legacy

The power, beauty and sincerity of his recordings continue to inspire and uplift pianists and music lovers worldwide. In addition to his pianistic accomplishments, Lipatti was a composer, who wrote in a neoclassical style with French and Romanian influences. He was posthumously made a member of the Romanian Academy in 1997.

Pop culture references

Dinu Lipatti was memorialized to some extent in The Mountain Goats song "Dinu Lipatti's Bones" on their 2005 album The Sunset Tree.

Notable recordings

• 1939 - Brahms, Waltzes, Op. 39, with Nadia Boulanger
• 1947 - Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor, with Herbert von Karajan and the Philharmonia
• 1948 - Grieg, Piano Concerto in A minor, with Alceo Galliera and the Philharmonia
• 1947/1948 - Frédéric Chopin, Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58; Barcarolle in F-sharp minor, Op. 60; Nocturne No. 8 in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2; Mazurka No. 32 in C-sharp minor, Op. 50, No. 3
• 1948 - Chopin, Waltzes
• 1950 - Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor, with Ernest Ansermet and the Suisse Romande Orchestra
• 1950 - Final Recital at Besançon (music of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin).

External links

• The Lipatti-Haskil Foundation
• "Lipatti" by Kevin Shihoten
• "Dinu Lipatti - The Last Recital"
• "Dinu Lipatti - Prince of Pianists"
• The Chopin Concerto Scandal
• Free scores by Dinu Lipatti at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

References

1. Prince of Pianists | Lipatti | Classical Music | Mark Ainley
2. Classics Today.com - Your Online Guide to Classical Music

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• 1917 births
• 1950 deaths
• Deaths from leukemia
• Deaths from lymphoma
• Members of the Romanian Academy elected post-mortem
• People from Bucharest
• Romanian classical pianists
• Romanian composers
• Romanian defectors
• Gheorghe Lazăr High School alumni
• Cancer deaths in Switzerland
• Students of Nadia Boulanger