Marcelle Meyer was a French pianist who was born in 1897 in Lille. She began piano lessons at age five under the tutelage of her sister Germaine and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under Marguerite Long and Alfred Cortot. Meyer was a prominent interpreter of contemporary music and was the favored pianist for the group of composers known as Les Six. She collaborated with composers including Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Francis Poulenc, and Erik Satie. Meyer was also instrumental in the rediscovery of French keyboard music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin, and Domenico Scarlatti. Early in her career, she gave the premiere performance of Claude Debussy's Préludes at the Salle Gaveau after coaching with the composer. Meyer premiered several key musical works, including Darius Milhaud’s Printemps (1920), Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces (1923) and Sérénade (1925), and Poulenc's Impromptus (1922). Her discography includes the studio recordings L'œuvre pour clavier (1953) by Rameau and L'Œuvre de piano (1954) by Ravel. Meyer died in 1958.
