Paul Doguereau

Slater told Korevaar that Doguereau played all of Debussy's piano works besides the etudes for the composer's widow, singer Emma Bardac (1862–1934).

She demonstrated how her husband had performed the works by singing phrases back to Doguereau.

Later, Doguereau took ten lessons with Ignaz Paderewski in New York.

Paul René Doguereau (September 8, 1908 – March 3, 2000) was a French pianist and piano teacher.

He spent most of his career in Boston, United States, where he was a well-respected cultural figure.

Although he officially studied with Marguerite Long at the Paris Conservatory, Doguereau said that he learned very little from her.

As is often the case with famous teachers with too little time and too many students, the young pianist was relegated to the hands of an assistant for most of the time.

The Paris Conservatory conferred its highest award, the Premier Prix, upon Doguereau at age 15.

During his time at Conservatory, Doguereau met Jean Roger-Ducasse.

According to Doguereau's adopted son, the pianist, author, and musicologist Harrison Slater:

Doguereau told his pupil, the pianist David Korevaar, that he had learned much about playing Fauré's works from Roger-Ducasse.

Doguereau performed in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s.

Doguereau met Maurice Ravel in 1928 in New York during Ravel's American tour.

Doguereau had been working at the time for Duo-Art, a recording technology developed by the Aeolian Company.

Duo-Art had invited Ravel to New York to record piano rolls ("Vallée des cloches" is the only one with sure dates from those sessions).

According to Korevaar, Doguereau subsequently accompanied Ravel on part of the tour that followed, spending long hours together on the train discussing Ravel's piano music.

According to Slater:

They remained friends, and Doguereau spoke to Korevaar of visiting Ravel at his home in Montfort, France in later years.

There is a photo of Ravel inscribed to Doguereau in the living room of his Boston home.

Also in the 1930s, supported by a number of Boston patronesses, he studied in Europe with Emil von Sauer and Egon Petri.

According to Slater, "Petri was the greatest influence on Paul's technique and teaching."

Doguereau lived in Boston for over sixty years.

He organized concerts, including one by Stravinsky, in Rome in 1935.

He met Fanny Peabody Mason in 1937 and it proved to be a meeting that would influence the Boston music scene for decades to come.

After her death, Doguereau continued her musical tradition by using the trust left to him to establish the Peabody-Mason Music Foundation, which presented concert performances in Boston for 35 years.

On a few occasions Doguereau himself accompanied other artists in their performance.

Doguereau's performance legacy lives on in his students, including Earl Wild, Peter Orth, David Korevaar, Sergey Schepkin, Andrew Rangell, Harrison Slater, Robert Swan, Stephen Porter and Robert Taub.

Doguereau left little in the way of recorded performances.

In 1948, the small Boston label Technichord released an album of Fauré songs featuring Doguereau with two sopranos, Isabel French and Olympia di Napoli.

Given that he stopped performing in public in the 1950s, this is hardly surprising.

He did however continue to perform privately, and in the last year of his life played the last two Chopin Ballades for friends twice at his home in Mt. Holly, New Jersey.

The earliest recording found by David Korevaar was a piano roll of the Danse Russe from Petrouchka on Ampico.

Doguereau also recorded Daniel Pinkham's Concertino, a work that Pinkham wrote for him in 1950.

In addition, Doguereau recorded solo repertoire for Technichord that was never released – perhaps the recordings were not up to his exacting standards.

Dr. David Korevaar, a former student of Doguereau, was able to study the solo material held by the Library of Congress.

The recordings include performances of Ravel's Sonatine (although missing the second part of the first movement), Fauré's Third Barcarolle, and Bach's Chromatic Fantasie.

After hearing the recordings, Korevaar commented:

Korevaar found these recorded tempi to be even faster than the indications given by Doguereau when Korevaar studied the work with him, although the high pitch of the transfer may be partly the cause.

The recording of Fauré's Barcarolle has some rubati in the opening.

This caught David Korevaar's attention because he studied the work with Doguereau and remembered his demonstrating in this style.