OTD in Music History: Important French Pianist Robert Marcel Casadesus (1899 - 1972) is born in Paris.
One of the greatest pianists of his generation, Casadesus was born into a very musical family and undertook studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Diemer (1843 - 1919) from a young age, earning a "Premier Prix" ("First Prize") in 1913. After graduating, he began touring widely throughout Europe and America, and from 1935 on he also held a professorship at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau. (Casadesus and his family spent WWII living in the United States, where they maintained a home in Princeton, New Jersey. Albert Einstein lived nearby, and the two men enjoyed playing Mozart violin sonatas together on occasion.)
In the early 1920's, Casadesus also collaborated with composer, conductor, and pianist Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) on a project to create piano rolls of a number of Ravel's original compositions. Casadesus was one of Ravel's favorite interpreters, and he and Ravel actually shared a concert platform on a number of occasions -- one example can be seen here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpg42-WO7zt/
A product of the "French" school of 19th Century pianism, Casadesus always played with a classical restraint and a delicate approach to both melody and line. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was particularly admired as an interpreter of the music of W.A. Mozart (1756 - 1791). He also left behind a landmark set of the complete piano music of Ravel, for which he was awarded both the "Grand Prix de l'Academie Charles Cros" and the "Grand Prix de l'Academie du Disque."
PICTURED: A publicity photograph showing the elderly Casadesus, which he signed and inscribed in 1958 to Larry Davis, who managed the primary performance auditorium at the world-famous Indiana University School of Music from 1956 – 1987.