Jeanne Leleu
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Jeanne Leleu (29 December 1898 – 11 March 1979) was a French pianist and composer. She was born in Saint-Mihiel in northeastern France; her father was a bandmaster and her mother a piano teacher.[1] She entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of nine, where she studied with Marguerite Long, Georges Caussade, Alfred Cortot and Charles-Marie Widor. With Geneviève Durony, Leleu gave the premiere performance of Ravel's Ma mère l'oye in 1910.[2] Ravel composed his Prélude for a Paris Conservatoire sight-reading competition in 1913 and Leleu won the prize.
Her cantata Beatrix won the Prix de Rome in 1923.[3] (She was only the third woman to win this premier Grand Prize after Lili Boulanger and Marguerite Canal.)[4] She went on to win two other prizes: Georges Bizet and Monbinne.[1]
In 1924 she took a position at the French Academy in Rome in the Villa Medici, staying there for three years before returning to Paris.
After completing her studies, Leleu took a position as professor of sight-reading at the Conservatoire and, in 1947, she was named professor of harmony. She died in Paris at 80 years of age.[5][6]
