As pianist, conductor and composer, Jean Louis Nicodé (1853–1919) was one of the most highly respected musicians of his day. Born in Posen in Prussia (Poznań in present-day Poland), he became a stalwart of musical life in Dresden in the closing years of the nineteenth century. Today his name is as good as unknown, although he was a highly accomplished composer, with his reputation as a performer suffering the same fate as his music. His piano music has hints of Chopin, Liszt and Schumann, and the spirit of dance is never far from the surface, but his expansive, and only, piano sonata has a visionary quality with its origins in late Beethoven.
Works:
•Nicodé: Italienische Volkstänze und Lieder, Op. 13
•Nicodé: Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 19
•Nicodé: Scherzo, Op. 19a