{"id":2491,"date":"2024-03-13T10:52:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T09:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mugi.lu\/?post_type=composer&p=2491"},"modified":"2025-10-17T17:41:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:41:40","slug":"jeannette-braun-giampellegrini","status":"publish","type":"composer","link":"https:\/\/mugi.lu\/en\/subject\/jeannette-braun-giampellegrini\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Jeannette Giampellegrini was born on 25 June 1938 in Differdange, in the south of Luxembourg, and spent her childhood in Niederkorn. She came from a family of laborers who had immigrated from Italy, where both her father’s and mother’s side were passionate about music. Her father, Antonio Giampellegrini, who was a steel worker at the HADIR<\/em> steelworks in Differdange, had studied music at the music school in Esch\/Alzette and the Conservatory in Luxembourg<\/em>. He played double bass, saxophone and violin and was an orchestral musician in the Cercle Symphonique<\/em> in Esch. His mother, Fernanda Gallo, an enamel painter at the \u00c9maux de Longwy<\/em> factory, loved singing. The male members of her extended family formed a dance orchestra that played the Th\u00e9 dansant<\/em> (foxtrot, tango, waltz) on Sunday afternoons until late at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the Second World War, her father began to teach his seven-year-old daughter music and bought her a piano so that she, as the only female member, could also play in the family orchestra. Barely two years later, he enrolled her in the Music School in Esch<\/em>, where she attended Louis Petit’s solf\u00e8ge class and the piano class first of El\u00e9onore Deloos and later of Jean Dax. She was awarded the Premier Prix<\/em> at the age of 11 and the Prix Sup\u00e9rieur<\/em> in piano at the age of 14, both times with the highest score. At Jean Dax’s request, she gave up playing “Light music”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1953, the then director of the Paris Conservatoire<\/em> and composer Claude Delvincourt discovered the young pianist’s talent during a stay in Luxembourg and invited her to attend the preparatory class at the Conservatoire National Sup\u00e9rieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris<\/em>. In October of the same year, the fifteen-year-old moved by herself to Paris, where she stayed in a boarding house for working, single women with the Soeurs de Saint-Vincent de Paul<\/em> and was taught by Joseph Benvenuti and his assistant Simone Druilhe-Darrieulat. Her mother had knitted her fingerless gloves for the eight hours of piano practice in the unheated accommodation. After a two-year preparatory phase, during which she mainly honed her technique, she was officially accepted as a regular student at the Paris Conservatoire<\/em> after passing two competitions. Her teachers included Joseph Benvenuti (piano), Elsa Barraine (sight-reading and harmonie pratique<\/em>), Jean Hubeau (chamber music), Ren\u00e9 Duclos (solf\u00e8ge) and Norbert Dufourcq (music history). Her friend and flatmate at the boarding house was the later famous opera singer Andr\u00e9a Guiot, whom she often accompanied during her singing studies. Ren\u00e9 Duclos also appreciated her sight-reading talents, so she regularly accompanied the solf\u00e8ge class at the conservatory. Jeannette Giampellegrini successfully completed her music studies in 1958. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She remained in Paris for two more years as a r\u00e9p\u00e9titeur at the Op\u00e9ra comique<\/em>, assisting the conductor Roberti Benzi in his debut performances of the opera Carmen<\/em> and working with singers such as Jane Rhodes. She returned to Luxembourg in 1960, where she initially worked as a substitute teacher in various music schools. She quickly became a much sought-after piano accompanist and soloist and worked regularly with the RTL Orchestra<\/em>, among others (see concert programs, press, music). She made numerous recordings at the music studio of Radio Luxembourg<\/em>, including premieres of works by Claus Krumlovsky. The pianist is also the dedicatee of piano works (Claus Krumlovsky : Sonatine Op. 6.1<\/em>; Walter Civitareale : Un salut lointain<\/em>). Jeannette Giampellegrini was a permanent member of the Ensemble Onst Lidd<\/em>, founded by composer Lou Koster, for 10 years (1963-1973). Together with four professors from the Conservatory of Esch<\/em> she founded the Quintette luxembourgeois<\/em>, a wind quartet with piano of international renown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After being employed as a substitute teacher at the Music School in Esch<\/em> (later the Conservatoire<\/em>) for almost three years from December 1962, she was first given a permanent contract as an assistant piano teacher in 1965, before finally taking up a professorship in piano in 1967. In 1968, she married Jean-Pierre Braun, a military musician, founder of the Soleuvre Youth Orchestra<\/em> and conductor of the Harmonie de Soleuvre<\/em>, whom she had previously taught piano. Two years later, their son Jean-Claude was born, who is now the conductor of the Luxembourg Military Orchestra<\/em> and, like his father, led the Harmonie de Soleuvre<\/em> for more than 20 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She was and still is very popular as a piano teacher with her own holistic and child-orientated methodology. She was also instrumental in the development of standardized piano curricula for all music schools in the country. Her students included Walter Civitareale, Isabelle Dominicy (later wife of Jean-Claude Braun and mother of Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini’s two grandchildren), Daniel Feis, Jeannine Huybrechts, Astrid Koemptgen, Astrid K\u00fcnzer, Ria Lucas, Yolande Ludwig, Lynn Orazi, Andr\u00e9 Reichling, Claire Scholtes, Pierre Weber and Marcel Wengler. Isabelle Dominicy, Ria Lucas, Daniel Feis and Lynn Orazi work today as professors at the Conservatoire in Esch<\/em>. In autumn 1989, she was appointed deputy director, a post she held until her retirement on 1 October 1998. On 8 April 2008, she was the first woman to be awarded the Prix du m\u00e9rite culturel<\/em> of the town of Esch\/Alzette for her musical achievements and on 14 December 2010, the mayor Georges Engel and the president of the cultural commission Simone Asselborn-Bintz awarded the Braun-Giampellegrini couple the Sassenheim Culture Prize<\/em> for their commitment to the musical culture of the municipality. At the age of 85, Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini still plays the piano every day and continues to be appointed as a member of international juries in Metz, Brussels and Nancy, among other places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(For the individual stages of her life and career, see the film interviews by Anne Schiltz with Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini and the text document \u201cJeannette Braun-Giampellegrini er\u00ebnnert sech”.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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d’Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini er\u00ebnnert sech<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ausgewielten Auszich aus engem Gespr\u00e9ich mam Lynn Orazi, <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

gefilmt \u00ebnnert der Regie vum Anne Schiltz<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Text (translated with the help of DeepL.com) and curation of the webpage: Danielle Roster (upload 08.03.2024) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creation of the digital archive JBG: D\u017eeila Adrovic, Kenza Kiwy, Sonja Kmec, Danielle Roster<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to cite: <\/strong>Roster, Danielle: Jeannette Braun-Giampellegrini, in: Music and Gender in Luxembourg, ed. by Sonja Kmec, Danielle Roster and Anne Schiltz. URL: https:\/\/mugi.lu\/en\/subject\/jeannette-braun-giampellegrini\/<\/a> (published online 1.3.2024; last accessed \u2026.)<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t