Dinu Lipatti

Romanian classical pianist and composer Dinu Lipatti (1917–1950) had a brief but exceptional career. Remembered mostly for his technical and interpretative skills, Lipatti was considered an exceptional performer of the works of Chopin, Mozart, and Bach among others. Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist who had studied with Pablo de Sarasate and Carl Flesch, his mother a pianist. His artistic journey from Bucharest to Paris initially took him through a period of early training under Mihail Jora, who introduced him to Florica Muzicescu, his acquaintance with George Enescu also dating from the same period. At fifteen, Lipatti graduated from the Bucharest Conservatoire and received the Enescu Prize for his first composition. Participated in a competition in Vienna, where, despite his undeniable championship as a pianist, he was awarded the second prize. As a member of the jury, Alfred Cortot invited him to Paris and this allowed Lipatti to continue his piano studies with Cortot, Yvonne Lefébure and Nadia Boulanger; conducting with Charles Munch; and composition with Stravinsky and Paul Dukas. His concert tours throughout Europe revealed the high class of his artistry and the promise of a brilliant future. But around the end of the Second World War, Lipatti was diagnosed with leukaemia and upon that he wrote in a letter to Mihail Jora: "When I was healthy, it was the struggle for the basic necessities that exhausted me. Now, when I'm sick, invitations arrive from all sides. I have signed engagements with Australia, South and North America. The irony of fate!". Lipatti gave his final recital, also recorded, on 16 September 1950 at the Besançon Festival in France.