Mortier de Fontaine

Henri-Louis-Stanislas Mortier de Fontaine was a Polish-French pianist born on 13 May 1816 in Wyszhnywiec whose artistic connections, international career, and advocacy for early music shaped his reputation. Shortly after his birth his parents settled in Milan, where he began piano studies at the age of seven before continuing his musical education in Vienna. The family later returned to Poland, and he studied in Warsaw under Jozef Elsner, where he was a contemporary of Frédéric Chopin, an association that placed him among the prominent young musicians of his generation. His earliest public appearances included a first concert in Danzig in 1830, followed by performances in Copenhagen and in Kiel in 1831, where he played works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven under the direction of Otto Jahn. His formal debut took place in 1832 in Danzig, and the following year he appeared in Paris, entering the musical life of one of Europe’s most important cultural centers and joining the Parisian circle of Chopin, who welcomed him warmly. Among his acquaintances there was also Paul Bigot de Morogues, husband of the pianist Marie Bigot.

Beginning in 1837, Mortier de Fontaine traveled through Italy, meeting Franz Liszt in Bellagio and forming a close friendship that led to his becoming godfather to Liszt’s daughter Cosima. Liszt also dedicated to him the two-hand arrangement he made of Franz Schubert’s Three Marches, reflecting the esteem he held for Mortier de Fontaine’s musicianship. After returning to Paris in 1840 he lived at 33 Rue de l’Arcade, a detail preserved in a letter from Chopin. During the mid‑1840s he expanded his European presence: in 1844 he was praised in Prague by the Viennese critic Count Ferdinand Laurencin d’Armond for possessing a genius beyond mere virtuosity, and in 1845 he performed in Dresden with Clara Schumann in the presence of Robert Schumann. He continued to attract attention with notable appearances in Vienna in 1846 and 1847, including a private soirée hosted by Liszt in which his performance of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata caused a sensation, and a public concert featuring works by Hummel and Beethoven as well as his own fantasy on Weber’s Freischütz.

In 1850 he settled in Russia, and from 1853 to 1860 he taught in Saint Petersburg while also spending periods in Moscow. His 1853 historical concert series in Saint Petersburg has been viewed by some researchers as an early precursor to historically informed performance, highlighting his forward‑thinking approach to repertoire and interpretation. He was among the first pianists to champion not only contemporary music but also works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel, and in 1863 he discovered a previously unknown Handel keyboard suite in A major.

After leaving Russia in 1860, partly following the death of the widow of Tsar Nicholas I, he worked in Munich, performing across Europe and giving concerts devoted to early music while continuing his teaching activities; among his pupils were Wilhelm Kienzl and Eduard Franck. He later lived in Paris and spent the final years of his life in London, where he died on 10 May 1883.

Mortier de Fontaine married the Belgian singer Marie-Josine Vanderperren in 1836, a union that later ended in divorce; he subsequently married Marguerite Limbach.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the art history graph.