Posted on 02/07/2021 11:06:56 AM PST by Magnatron
Colette Maze says she began playing the piano when she was four years old to find in music the warmth absent in her strict upbringing.
Today, at the age of 106, her playing still exudes great tenderness and sitting at the piano – one of four in her Paris apartment – her agile fingers seem to barely touch the keys as she sways to the sounds of Schumann, Debussy and Chopin.
“It’s my food, my food for the spirit and for the heart”, Maze, a small, vivacious woman, told Reuters.
Born in 1914 into a middle class family, she was homeschooled by her strict mother while her father managed a fertilizer plant.
She then went on to study at the Paris Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, a conservatoire in the 16th arrondissement, before embarking on a long career as an accompanist at music schools in the capital.
Maze, credits yoga and finger gymnastics for keeping her nimble. If she stops playing she would need to feed her imagination somehow. “But I need something touchable. You need to taste candy, and my fingers need to feel the keys, to feel this,” as her feet reach for the pedals and she begins to play once more.
Maze has just recorded her sixth album – a three volume recording of works by Debussy, slated to be released in April. Last year, she recorded pieces by Debussy and another major French composer, Erik Satie.
Her only son Fabrice Maze, born in 1949, says his mother is an inspiration for others, especially during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On one hand she helps morale. That at 106 you can be on good form if you have passion and looks after yourself — that’s good news,” he says.
“And then her sense of humour, her joy, her love of life, it makes you smile.”
Thank you for posting this.
Truly an incredible woman.
Wonderful! A musical St. Germaine from France.
Anything in her bio?
This makes me miss France.
Yeah, but this makes her Miss France. Not a joke. We should all be so lucky to have our wits and talents at the century.
Wonderful! My 6 year old grandson enthusiastically started piano last fall. He loves it! Looking forward to showing him this video.
Our youngest started piano at 6 years old as well. He’s now 15 and has really done well with it. We were fortunate enough to come across a talented concert pianist who teaches at Appalachian State University. He is originally from Russia and has taken our son under his wing. His piano lineage goes back to Beethoven. He wrote this down for our son Xxxx, and Xxxx found it exciting to have this ancestry:
Beethoven taught Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny taught Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt taught Alexander Silotti
Alexander Silotti taught Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff taught Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zveref taught Alexander Goldenweizer
Alexander Goldenweizer taught Tatiana Nikolaeva
Tatiana Nikolaeva taught Bair Shagdaron (Xxxx’s teacher)
And Bair Shagdaron taught Xxxx!
How exciting!!!!
St. Germaine? My grandmother was named for a French WWI nurse named Germaine, upon request of her uncle, her mother’s brother, who was in the military serving in France during the war. He had become friends with a young nurse named Germaine and her family.
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