Magdalena Tagliaferro

Magdalena Tagliaferro was born in Petrópolis, Brazil, on January 19, 1893. She began her piano studies at the age of five with her father, Paulo Tagliaferro, who had been a student in Paris of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and Raoul Pugno (1852-1914). At the age of nine, the pianist made her public debut, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. Two years later, she undertook her first tour, performing in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

At the age of 13, Magdalena and her family moved to France, where, on the recommendation of Raoul Pugno, she was admitted as a student at the Paris Conservatory, taking lessons with Antonin Marmontel (1850-1907). After a year, she won first prize and the gold medal in the conservatory competition, among 46 candidates, performing Weber's Sonata No. 2 in A-flat major. The jury for this competition included Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925), Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), and Gabriel Fauré. Around this time, she gave her first concert at the Salle Érard in Paris.

Following this, Magdalena became a student of Alfred Cortot, who, according to her, opened new interpretative horizons for her, stimulating her musical imagination. In 1908, the pianist was invited by Fauré, then director of the Paris Conservatory, to a series of concerts in France. At these events, the two artists performed, among other works by this composer, the Ballade Op. 19 for piano and orchestra, in a transcription for two pianos.

The pianist, who then adopted the stage name Magda Tagliaferro, went on to dedicate herself to a significant international career. He performed with important orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of Swiss Romande. Among the principal conductors with whom he worked were Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954), Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937), Ernest Ansermet (1883-1969), Charles Munch (1891-1968), Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977), Lorin Maazel (1930-2014), Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), and the Brazilians Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), João de Souza Lima (1898-1982), and Eleazar de Carvalho (1912-1996).

In 1928, she received the Legion of Honor from France and, in 1937, was appointed by the French government as a professor at the Paris Conservatory of Music, succeeding Isidor Philipp (1863-1958), in the advanced and virtuoso class. From then on, she developed an important pedagogical career.

In 1940, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, interpreting Schumann's Concerto in A minor, Op. 54. Subsequently, due to World War II and the temporary closure of the Paris Conservatory, the pianist returned to Brazil to work as a concert pianist and teacher, invited by the then Minister of Education of Getúlio Vargas (1882-1954): Gustavo Capanema (1900-1985). Thus, Magda began her annual course in piano interpretation, taught in 1942 in São Paulo, and three years later in Porto Alegre, Bahia, and other Brazilian states. These events, which were widely celebrated, were even broadcast by Rádio Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. A large part of the texts from these classes are now housed at the Magdalena Tagliaferro Foundation in São Paulo. In 1949, the pianist returned to live in Paris, and in 1953 she was elevated to Commander of the Legion of Honor of France.

In 1969, she created the Magdalena Tagliaferro Foundation in São Paulo. This important institution, still very active today, has promoted a series of courses, competitions, and musical events, even providing scholarships for promising new artists. In July 1970, she played the opening recital of the 1st Campos do Jordão Winter Festival. In 1972, Magda received the Order of Rio Branco from the Brazilian Government. In 1979, after 39 years, she performed her second concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, with great success, and in the same year, she published her memoir, Almost Everything, written in French and translated into Portuguese by her student Maria Lúcia Pinho. Magda served as a juror in some of the main international piano competitions, such as the Chopin Competition in Warsaw; the Tchaikovsky Competition in the Soviet Union; the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium; and the Mozarteum Summer Academy Competition in Salzburg.

She maintained an intense pedagogical and artistic activity until the end of her life.

She passed away in 1986, at the age of 93, in Rio de Janeiro. Her wake was held at the city's Municipal Theater to the sound of Fauré's Requiem, and she was buried in the São João Batista Cemetery.

The artist left a significant pedagogical legacy, having taught a number of pianists, such as Lina Pires de Campos (1918-2003), Neusa França (1920-2016), Heitor Alimonda (1922-2002), Maria Josephina Mignone (1923), Gilberto Tinetti (1932), Isabel Mourão (1932-2016), Eudóxia de Barros (1937), Cristina Ortiz (1950), Fábio Caramuru (1956), among many others. The basic principles of Magda's teaching methods are contained in the book by Asako Tamura, her former student, written in Japanese, with editions translated into English and Portuguese.

Among the works dedicated to the artist, noteworthy are Album No. 4, from the Practical Guide, and Villa-Lobos' Momoprecoce; Camargo Guarnieri's Ponteio No. 6; Francisco Mignone's Sonata No. 1; Fructuoso Vianna's Dança de Negros; Lina Pires de Campos' Acalanto; Tonyan Khallyhabby's Prelude Op. 36 No. 9; and Reynaldo Hahn's Concerto in E Major.

Her important discography includes, among other recordings, the recording of Villa-Lobos' Momoprecoce with the French National Radio Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself; recordings with the Lamoureux Orchestra, conducted by Jean Fournet, which include César Franck's Symphonic Variations; Saint-Saëns' Concerto No. 5, Op. 103 "Egyptian"; Fauré's Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 19; and many recordings of works by Chopin and Spanish composers such as De Falla, Granados, and Albéniz. In 1981, he recorded an album with his student Daniel Varsano (1953-1988), performing works by Fauré for piano duo, an album that received the Grand Prix de l'Académie du Disque Français.