In Memoriam--Dr. Isabelle Cazeaux (1926-2023)
0 Comments Published by AMSGNY President on Friday, September 22, 2023 at 1:30 PM.
Isabelle Anne Marie Cazeaux, 24 February 1926 (New York) – 13 September 2023 (New York)
Franco-American musicologist and violinist
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of the twentieth century’s most significant musicologists and pedagogues, our dear and venerated professor, Dr. Isabelle Cazeaux. Dr. Cazeaux was born and died in New York, attended the High School of Music and Art and entered Hunter College at 15. She continued at Smith College for her Master of Music degree (1946), working with Alfred Einstein, and then at Columbia University, where she earned her Master of Library Science degree (1959), and her PhD under Paul Henry Lang, graduating in 1961. In France, she studied Paleography at the École Nationale des Chartes under Alain de Bouard and at the École pratique des Hautes-Études with Solange Corbin; at the Sorbonne, her musicology studies were mentored by Paul-Marie Masson.
An intellectual powerhouse capable of guiding research from the earliest centuries until the modern age, her research focused chiefly on the early centuries of French music, resulting in a monumental dissertation on Claudin de Sermisy. Her subsequent French Music of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Praeger, 1975) became, for many years, the gold standard for research in this arena. Dr. Cazeaux taught for several decades at the Manhattan School of Music and simultaneously at Bryn Mawr College, where she taught for 29 years to eventually chair the Music Department.
Little known as a violinist, Dr. Cazeaux studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Astruc, and in the United States with Anselme Fortier (New York Philharmonic), Ivan Galamian (Juilliard) and Nicolas Averino (Boston Symphony). She enjoys the distinction of having performed Rachmaninov’s Vocalise for the composer. Further studies ensued: piano with Kyriena Ziloti, voice with Marguerite Babaïan and composition with Alexei Haieff.
An abiding friend and devoted mentor, she nurtured the research and careers of Paul-André Bempéchat, Alexander Blachly, Stephen Bonime, Jeff Dailey, Tula Giannini, Christopher Gibbs, Margaret Ross Griffel, Michael Griffel, Sylvia Kahan, Rabbi Daniel Katz, the late Hiroko Kishimoto, Sally C. Park, the late Virginia Raad, Susan Shields, George Stauffer, and the late Charles W. White. Her legacy will enrich the generations; she will be sorely missed.
Que l’on célèbre ses ouvrages, Let her works be feted:
Au-delà des temps et des âges, Beyond time and the ages;
Au-delà de l’éternité. Transcending into Eternity.
- Racine
The Students and Friends of Professor Isabelle Cazeaux
Isabelle's Estate has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in her memory to the Greater New York Chapter of the AMS. You may mail a check, made out to "American Musicological Society-GNY" to: William Hettrick, 48-21 Glenwood Street, Little Neck, NY 11362, or use the Paypal link on the website: http://ams-gny-membership.blogspot.com/ (scroll down to the bottom).
