Emile Blanchet

Emile-Robert Blanchet (17 July 1877, Lausanne – 27 March 1943, Lausanne) was a Swiss musician, composer, and mountaineer. He was the son and pupil of Charles Blanchet, organist of the Church of Saint Francis in Lausanne.

From the age of 18 he studied at the Cologne Conservatory with Gustav Jensen and Friedrich Wilhelm Franke. In 1898 he went to Berlin to study under Ferruccio Busoni; from 1902 to 1904 he appeared in concerts in Berlin, after which he returned to Lausanne.

Blanchet taught at the Lausanne Conservatory and served as its director from 1905 to 1908. In 1917 he resigned in order to devote himself entirely to mountaineering. Beginning in 1901 he made numerous ascents in the Alps, including first ascents such as the Rimpfischhorn by the north face and the Aletschhorn by the southeast face.

He composed more than one hundred works, predominantly piano pieces, as well as songs for voice and piano, several pieces for violin and for organ, and the book "Modern Piano Technique" (Technique moderne du piano; 1935). His Konzertstück for piano and orchestra was recorded by Clara Haskil in 1947 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Thomas Beecham. Blanchet was the dedicatee of Rudolf Ganz's Symphonic Variations on a Theme by Brahms and Leopold Godowsky's Etude Macabre.

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