Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Orthez, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
About Francis Planté
- Francis Planté (2 March 1839 – 19 December 1934) was a French pianist famed as one of the first ever recording artists.
- He was France's most important pianist in the nineteenth century, apart from Chopin. Planté was born in Orthez.
- He studied piano under Antoine Marmontel, his career beginning at the age of seven in Paris.
- While there he met and befriended many like-minded musicians who would have a long-lasting effect on his career.
- These included Franz Liszt, with whom he played arrangements of two of Liszt's symphonic poems (Les Préludes, and Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo) for 2 pianos, Hector Berlioz, Gioachino Rossini, Charles Gounod, Felix Mendelssohn, Sigismond Thalberg and Charles-Marie Widor.
- It is also known that he himself heard Frédéric Chopin play, and because of this, his recordings - and indeed the one film available of him - are seen as a link to a 'lost world' of piano performance. He toured the concert platforms of Europe after leaving Paris, expanding his reputation for quality of tone and virtuosic, emotional interpretations.
- The death of his wife in 1908 resulted in him retiring from the stage, except for charity performances and concerts in aid of those wounded in the First World War.
- He had many pupils, including Alexander Brailowsky.
- He died in Saint-Avit. Planté is featured in the 1999 DVD The Art of Piano, in which a short excerpt from the film of him playing Chopin's Étude in C, Op.
- 10 No.
- 7 can be seen. Francis Planté's style is considered very different from modern-day recording artists.
- The recordings available suggest a more paced performance with a more prominent accent on each beat and with the notes more pronounced. Recordings that Planté made include: Chopin: Études Op.
- 10, Nos.
- 4, 5 and 7 Chopin: Études Op.
- 25, Nos.
- 1, 2, 9 and 11 Berlioz: Serenade Mendelssohn: Scherzo in E, Op.
- 16, No.
- 3. Boccherini: Minuet
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