Raoul Pugno
Raoul Pugno was a French pianist and composer of Italian origin. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory in 1869, studying piano with Georges Mathias and composition with Ambroise Thomas.
From 1872 to 1878, he was organist at the Church of Saint-Eugène in Paris, then served as its choirmaster until 1892. He taught at the Paris Conservatory from 1892 to 1901, first teaching harmony and, after Henri Fissot's death in 1896, taking over his piano class.
Pugno performed as a soloist from 1871. His notable musical partnerships included duets with Eugène Ysaÿe and Claude Debussy, for two pianos, and a ten-year collaboration with Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger wrote her Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra for him; they also jointly composed the vocal cycle Les heures claires (1909), setting poems by Émile Verhaeren, and the opera La ville morte (1914), based on a work by Gabriele D'Annunzio. The opera was never staged because Pugno died unexpectedly during a tour of Russia.
His works included four operas, three operettas, eight ballets, the oratorio The Resurrection of Lazarus (1879), and numerous piano pieces. He edited editions of works by Chopin and Massenet. Pugno was among the first pianists to have his playing recorded, in 1903.