Blanche Selva

Marie Blanche Selva (Catalan Blanca Selva i Henry, 29 January 18843 December 1942) was a French pianist, music educator, writer and composer of Spanish origin. Biography Blanche Selva was born in Brive-la-Gaillarde in Corrèze. As a child she studied piano with a number of teachers, took preparatory classes with Sophie Chéné, and was admitted to the Paris Conservatory in 1893. She studied with S. Chéné and won a medal in competition, but left the Conservatory without graduating. Her family moved to Geneva, and Selva began giving concerts at the age of 13 in Lausanne. She studied with Vincent d’Indy, and became a professor at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in December 1901, later taking positions at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, the École Normale de Musique in Paris, and the Prague Conservatory. Blanche Selva was the only French pianist of her time to specialise in Czech music, and she was consequently very popular in Czechoslovakia. in Europe. By the age of 20 she had performed all of J.S. Bach’s keyboard works in 17 recitals. Between 1906 and 1909 she premiered all four books of Isaac Albéniz’s piano suite Iberia. In January 1925 Selva moved to Barcelona, where she founded her own