Isidor Philipp was a French pianist, music teacher, and composer whose posthumous reputation rests more on his writings on piano technique than on his compositions. Born in Budapest, he moved to Paris with his parents as a child.
Philipp studied piano at the Paris Conservatory with Georges Mathias, a pupil of Chopin, and graduated in 1883 with First Prize in piano. He also studied composition with Camille Saint-Saëns and took lessons from Stephen Heller and Théodore Ritter, a pupil of Berlioz and Liszt. While at the Conservatory, he met Claude Debussy and remained close to him until Debussy's death.
He made his London solo debut in 1890. Philipp also founded a chamber trio with the violinist Henri Berthelier and the cellist Jules-Léopold Loeb; for nearly ten years at the end of the nineteenth century, the ensemble toured Europe successfully. In 1893 he returned to the Paris Conservatory to teach piano, first at an elementary level and later in advanced classes. After becoming a French citizen in 1903, he served as a professor there until 1934, and after the First World War he also taught at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau.
His many pupils included Maurice Dumesnil, Aaron Copland, Guiomar Novaes, Wilfrid Pelletier, Albert Schweitzer, Alexander Tcherepnin, André Lavagne, Nikita Magaloff, Jean Françaix, Henriette Puig-Roget, Sviatoslav Sulima-Stravinsky, Beveridge Webster, and Émile Poillot. He was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1927, and in 1900 received a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exposition for his long-standing work in music education.
From 1940 Philipp lived and taught in the United States and Canada, including in New York and Montreal, while continuing to perform as a pianist. His final concert took place on 20 March 1955, when, aged ninety-one, he played the piano part in César Franck's Violin Sonata.
Philipp published influential pedagogical studies, including Exercises for Developing a Sustained Touch (1904), Gradus ad Parnassum (1911–1914), Petit Gradus ad Parnassum (1913–1914), Daily Technique for the Pianist (1929), Exercises for Modern Piano Teaching (1933), New Preparatory Exercises for Advanced Piano Teaching (1937), and Exercises on the Black Keys (1942). His compositions included Caprice-Études in Octaves, Two Concert Studies after Chopin's Op. 25 No. 6, Feuille de l'album for piano, Rêverie mélancolique, Sérénade humoristique, a Concertino for three pianos, a Suite for two pianos, and a Berceuse for piano.