Amédée Méreaux

Biography

Jean-Amédée Lefroid de Méreaux (18 September 1802 – 25 April 1874) was a French composer, pianist, piano teacher, musicologist and music critic. He is best known for his 60 Grandes Études, Op. 63.

Family background

Amédée Méreaux came from a family of musicians. His father, Joseph-Nicolas Lefroid de Méreaux, composed for the piano and organ, whilst his grandfather, Nicolas-Jean Lefroid de Méreaux, mainly composed operas. Going up the family tree, one more generation is known; it consists of Pierre Lefroid de Méreaux (Méreaux's great-grandfather) and an unknown person (Méreaux's great-grandmother).
According to Antoine François Marmontel, Méreaux's father was "a professor of good merit, in ongoing relationships with all the musical celebrities at the time". The Lefroid de Méreaux seemed to have above-average status in French society, which comes from the fact that both Méreaux's father and grandfather had been professors with their own respective musical reputations. If this wasn't the case, they also wouldn't have connections to aristocracy, since a handful of Méreaux's early works are dedicated to noblemen and baronesses, which creates room for the possibility that Méreaux himself performed for aristocrats at a young age.
His family was in possession of a large collection of 17th-century music as well, which was passed down from his grandfather.

Life and career

Jean-Amédée Lefroid de Méreaux was born as son and first child of Joseph-Nicolas Lefroid de Méreaux and Marie Angélique-Félicité Blondel (1774–1840), daughter of the lawyer Jean Blondel (1733–1810), on 18 September in Paris. His grandfather, Nicolas-Jean Lefroid de Méreaux (1745–1797), was a composer of operas and oratorios.
Méreaux's parents - especially his mother - wanted him to pursue a career in advocacy, so he received a very careful education at a young age, while learning to play piano from his father. Louise-Eugénie Lefroid de Méreaux (1808–1892), his sister, was born 6 years after him, on 28 February 1808. Their relationship with each other is unknown, but the Fantaisie et variations, Op. 11, and L'Inquiétude, Op. 20, both works of Méreaux, are dedicated to her.
At the age of ten, Méreaux took harmony lessons from Anton Reicha. During this time period, he rapidly progressed at piano playing and went on to study at the Lycée Charlemagne, where he received first prize in a piano competition the same year. It was clear that Méreaux wanted to pursue a career in music rather than in advocacy, so his parents - particularly his mother - placed his ambition over working in the fields of advocacy.
When Méreaux was barely 14 years of age, his father let his first works to be published, most-likely through his connections as a musician. After his studies at the Lycée Charlemagne, he went on to learn counterpoint and composition under Reicha, potentially at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1815, as Reicha had been a teacher there since 1809 at that point.
His compositions are known for their immense difficulty – Marc-André Hamelin considered them more difficult than those of Charles-Valentin Alkan. His best-known work is his 60 Grandes Études, Op. 63. Of this album, the "Bravura" étude, Op. 63 No. 24, has passages where the pianist's two hands cross over each other simultaneously every quaver, at the speed of = 100. Other immensely difficult works from the set include the "Scherzo alla Napolitana" étude, Op. 63 No. 45, which has only been played at roughly half tempo, and is widely considered to be his most difficult work. The "Toccata" étude, Op. 63 No. 20 stands out as well, containing speeds of demisemiquavers around octaves at = 160. However, not all of his works have such difficulties.
Although his works are considered by some, including Hamelin, to be unmusical, this view is not held by everyone. Despite his current obscurity, some of his Op. 63 études were included in piano collections edited by Isidor Philipp, and there is a street in Rouen named after him. In 2011, five of his Op. 63 études were recorded by Cyprien Katsaris.
As a musicologist, he is known for his study Les Clavecinistes de 1637 à 1790, written between 1864 and 1867. One of his students was Charlotte Tardieu, with whom he later performed.
He died in Rouen in 1874.