Georges Mathias

Georges Mathias (1826–1910) – French pianist and composer. Initially a pupil of Kalkbrenner, then from 1837, for around five years, of Fryderyk Chopin. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatory with Berton and Halévy. In 1848, he won Second Prize in the Prix de Rome. From 1862 to 1893, he taught piano at the Conservatory, introducing the Chopin tradition into official French music circles.

His pupils included Raoul Pugno, Isidor Philipp and Ernest Schelling. In his foreword to Philipp’s Exercices quotidiens tirés des oeuvres de Chopin, Mathias described his memories of the personality, playing and teaching of Chopin.