Piero Coppola

Piero Coppola (11 October 1888 – 17 March 1971) was an Italian conductor, pianist and composer. Life and career Coppola was born in Milan; his parents were both singers. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, graduating in piano and composition in 1910. He then worked in Brussels, Belgium before spending the duration of World War I in Scandinavia. In the late 1920s and 1930s Coppola conducted recordings of many works of Debussy and Ravel, including the first recordings of Debussy’s La mer and Ravel’s Boléro. Coppola’s conducting enjoyed the admiration of Debussy, although the composer never actually heard Coppola perform any of his works. and among the early recordings “closest to Debussy’s thought”. His recording of Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1932. Family Despite many unsubstantiated claims, there is no known family relationship between Piero Coppola and the musician brothers Anton and Carmine Coppola or Carmine’s son Francis Ford Coppola. Recording premieres * Debussy, La mer, orchestra, 1928 * Honegger, Pacific 231, unidentified symphony orchestra, His Master’s Voice D 2030, 1927 * Ravel, Shéhérazade, Marcelle Gerar (soprano), orchestra, The Gr