Colette Maze, the century-old pianist
Colette Maze (16 June 1914 – 19 November 2023) was a French classical pianist who studied with Alfred Cortot and Nadia Boulanger. She began recording in her 90s, with a preference for the music by Claude Debussy who was still alive when she was born. She released her seventh album in 2023, as possibly the oldest recording pianist. When she turned a centenarian, she became a favourite of social media.
She was born Colette Saulnier in Paris on 16 June 1914.[1] Her father, Léon Pierre Saulnier, was the manager of a fertilizer plant.[2] Her grandmother played the piano,[3] and her mother, Denise Claire Piollet,[2] played violin, both giving concerts at their home.[3] The girl began playing the piano at age five.[3][4] She was educated at home until she was a teenager.[5] She studied piano at the École Normale de Musique in Paris from age 15. Her teachers were Alfred Cortot, Nadia Boulanger[4] and Jeanne Blanchard. She received a Pleyel piano for her 18th birthday which she kept for life.[3]
She wanted to become a professional concert pianist, but her parents opposed the idea,[4] and she failed the final exam. She completed studies to be a piano teacher,[3] and taught decades at both the Ecole Normale de Musique and the conservatoire of Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine.[4]
After World War II she fell in love with a married man; she raised their son, Fabrice, as a single mother in a small apartment, cut off from her family.[3] She married Émile Fernand Maze, a musician, in Paris on 29 December 1958.[2]
She focused on music by composers from the Romantic period, such as Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy, saying:
I always preferred composers who gave me tenderness, like Schumann and Debussy. Music is an affective language, a poetic language. In music there is everything — nature, emotion, love, revolt, dreams; it's like a spiritual food.[3]
She was fond of the love story of Schumann and his wife Clara.[3] She recorded from her 90s until age 109, playing the piano daily for four hours[4] to maintain her memory.[3]
Maze died at her home in Paris on 19 November 2023, at age 109.[4][5]
Recording
When Maze was already in 90s, her son urged her to record, to preserve the tradition of Cortot's teaching, being one of his last surviving pupils, and her unique way of playing. While hesitant at first, she began recording on a Steinway piano in her apartment.[3]
She released seven classical albums, including a CD dedicated to Claude Debussy. In 2021, aged 107, she released her sixth album.[6][7][8][9] In 2023, aged 109, she released her seventh album,[10] including music by George Gershwin, Astor Piazzolla, Schumann and again Debussy,[4] some of the works with guitarist and arranger Bertrand Cazé.[11]
She was a favourite of social media from age 100.[4]
Colette Maze, the century-old pianist
Re: Colette Maze, the century-old pianist
Remarquable ! Je n’avais jamais entendu parler d’elle.
What a pedigree – Alfred Cortot and Nadia Boulanger.. Her son was right – her playing has a sincere, harmonious, fresh ring to it, which, apart from a few young geniuses, the average conservatory graduate nowadays cannot muster. The old school, of which both her teachers were stellar representatives.
You may have noticed that the categorisation of Debussy as a “Romantic” is wrong. He was very much a modern, XXth-century composer, as evidenced by his strong support of Stravinski, and by the fact that Pierre Boulez considered him to be one of the grandfathers of contemporary music – and showed Debussy’s influence in his own work.
On a personal note: my mother, who used to be a young concert pianist whose career ended at the outbreak of WWII – she likewise adored Schumann and Debussy – played on a Bechstein piano (from the “golden year” 1936) which she had received from her parents upon graduating at Antwerp conservatory. Bechstein and Pleyel pianos had and have a reputation of rendering marvellously the nuances in music for solo piano and chamber music.
I loved how Colette Maze (pronounced "maahz” and not “mayze”) played Debussy on her exquisite Pleyel.
Re: Colette Maze, the century-old pianist
Since your laudatory comment, I went to listen to the pianist again. It’s true, there is virtuoso skill. I also appreciated the numerous interviews with a touching personality. This shows that success has no age and can occur at the dawn of 100 years.
I discovered the piano with my first job when I was 20. That's when I discovered classical music. I loved listening to Chopin's waltzes, Vivaldi's four seasons... I had the chance to play the piano for 2 years, then life would have decided otherwise
