Alexandre Levy

Brazilian composer, pianist and music critic Alexandre Levy (1864-1892) was the son of French clarinetist Louis Levy, who had been living in São Paulo since 1860 and was the founder of Casa Levy, one of the main music establishments of that time. The younger Levy’s teachers appear to have been the French pianist Gabriel Giraudon, and later, the Russian pianist Luis Maurice. His debut as a pianist was at the age of eight. His talent was widely recognized, and he was even being compared to Mozart by the music critics of his time.

Given the importance of Casa Levy and his father’s popularity, the younger Levy had direct contact with all the important São Paulo musicians, and with all those who were going to perform in that city. In 1882, Alexandre and his older brother, Luis, performed in Buenos Aires. From 1880, several of his piano works had begun to be edited in Europe. In 1883, he was made concert director of the Haydn Club, an important São Paulo concert society. In 1887, he traveled to Paris, where he studied with Émile Durand and Vincenzo Ferroni. At the end of that year, he returned to São Paulo, where he began to work as a music critic.

Although he derived his musical style mainly from Schumann and Mendelssohn, his compositions around this time were already following a clear nationalist tendency, particularly by his use of folkloric and popular urban themes.

Maestro Levy’s Compositions