Marie Panthès

Panthès' grave

Panthès was born in Odessa (Russian Empire) of French parents. She studied the piano at the Conservatoire de Paris[1] in an upper grade class, then with Henry Fissot and Louise-Aglaé Massart-Masson[2] where she won first prize at the age of 14. In 1897, she toured with the violinist Alexandre Petschnikoff and became famous[3] thanks to numerous European tours.

In 1904, she began teaching at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève.[4] She then left this post in 1917 because of differences of opinion with the conservatory committee.[2] She moved with her violinist husband, Maurice Darier, to Lausanne. She returned to Geneva in 1931 and taught for twenty years at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève. In 1951, she said she stopped because she suffered from a melanoma in her head. In 1954, she began treatment with a cancer specialist in New York, Dr. Revici. She died there on 11 March 1955 at the age of 83.[5] Her grave is located at Cimetière des Rois in Geneva.

Among her notable students were Julien-François Zbinden,[6] Johnny Aubert, Isabelle Nef and Marguerite Roesgen-Champion.

• Oscar Thompson (ed.), Nicolas Slonimsky (ed.): The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 4th edition, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York 1946
• (in German) Arthur Eaglefield-Hull (ed.) and Alfred Einstein (transl. and adaptation): "Panthès, Marie", in Das Neue Musik-Lexikon. Nach dem Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians. Max Hesses Verlag, Berlin 1926, p. 477. (Online)
• (in German) Hugo Riemann: "Panthès, Marie", in Riemann Musiklexikon, 11th edition, Max Hesses Verlag, Berlin 1929, p. 1339. (Online)

• Sketch of Marie Panthès on Gallica