Germaine Thyssens-Valentin

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin (27 July 1902 – 7 July 1987) was a Dutch-born classical pianist of Franco-Dutch parentage, noted for her performances of French music. She studied under Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire, and in the 1950s, after a long absence from performing while she raised a family of five children, she recorded a series of discs of Fauré's music that have been reissued on compact disc to considerable acclaim.

Life and career She was born as Germaine Suzanna Jeanne Thyssens in Maastricht in the Netherlands, the eldest of the three children of a Dutch father, born Joannes Jacobus Thijssen but known as Jean-Jacques Thyssens, and his wife Jeanne Caroline Schmidt, who was from Alsace.

She studied at the Royal Academy of Liège, and in 1914, at the age of 13, entered the Conservatoire de Paris, which was then headed by Gabriel Fauré. She studied in the class of Isidor Philipp and later of Marguerite Long. To support herself while a student, she gave piano lessons and played incidental music in cinemas.

In December 1924 Thyssens married Paul Valentin, and hyphenated his name with hers. By now she had begun to establish herself as a piano soloist, appearing with leading chamber musicians and with the Concerts Colonne, but she gave up her musical career completely to raise her family of five children. Between 1956 and 1959, she recorded a series of discs for the French recording company Ducretet-Thomson. They were not widely available outside France, and as the company failed to keep pace with the introduction of stereophonic recording its catalogue went out of print during the 1960s.

In 1956, Thyssens-Valentin became the first pianist to play all Fauré's piano works at a series of concerts. She gave a second complete cycle the following year. She continued to promote the works of Fauré in later years, including by teaching masterclasses and creating a fingered edition of the first eight Nocturnes. After she had played all 13 of his nocturnes at the Salle Gaveau in 1974, Fauré's daughter-in-law greeted her with the words, "Oh! Madame, quel effort!"

Thyssens-Valentin retired in 1983; her last concert, in November of that year comprised music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré and Debussy.

Her Gramophone Award winning