Born in Athens to an artist mother and a father stationed at the Romanian Embassy in Greece, Hélène Covatti came to France at the age of fifteen to pursue her musical studies, entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris in Harmony (Paul Fauchet), Counterpoint and Fugue (Noël Gallon) and Composition (Jean Roger-Ducasse). Premiers Prix d’Harmonie (1934), Prix de Contrepoint et de Fugue (1937), Prix Halphen de Composition for her Sonate pour Piano & Violon, congratulated by Arthur Honegger; a second version for Piano and Viola was published, as well as Cycles de mélodies and pieces for Piano and Violin, in two books entitled: Apollon and Daphné.

After the war, she taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, where she was assistant to Georges Hugon and Marcelle Soulages, then acting professor and piano teacher for singers. She also prepares and guides harmony and counterpoint students. Her cycles of melodies were premiered in 1938 by the singer Spéranza Calo Séailles, then at the Radiodiffusion française, by Elen Dosia of the Paris Opera, while the violinist Lucia Artopoulos premiered her Sonate at the Salle Gaveau. “I’d love to hear Hélène Covatti’s complete creation. There is a rare vitality in her music.” (Les nouvelles Littéraires, 1946).

She was the wife of composer Robert Dussaut, 1st Grand Prix de Rome, and mother of pianist Thérèse Dussaut; some of her pupils went on to become famous, including Romanian violinist Stephane Gheorghiu, Greek conductor Dimitri Chorafas, pianist Valentin Gheorghiu, and composer Iannis Xenakis, still an architect at the time, whom she steered towards Olivier Messiaen’s class.

The CD “Dussaut, Musique de Chambre” (label Azur Classical) features works by Hélène Covatti-Dussaut and Robert Dussaut.

About