Hanon, Charles-Louis

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Hanon, Charles-Louis

Hanon, Charles-Louis, French pianist and pedagogue; b. Renescure, near Dunkerque, July 2, 1819; d. Boulogne-sur-Mer, March 19, 1900. Next to Czerny, Hanon was the most illustrious composer of piano exercises, embodied in his chef d’oeuvre, Le Pianiste-virtuose, which for over a century has been the vade–mecum for many millions of diligent piano students all over the face of the musical globe. He further wrote a collection of 50 instructive piano pieces under the title Méthode élémentaire de piano, a useful compilation, Extraits des chefs-d’oeuvres des grands maîtres, and a selection of 50 ecclesiastical chants, 50 cantiques choisis parmi les plus populaires. He also attempted to instruct uneducated musicians in the art of accompanying plainchant in a curious didactic publication, Système nouveau pour apprendre à accompagner tout plainchant sans savoir la musique.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire