Felix Battanchon: 12 Etudes in Thumb Positions op 25

Felix Battanchon
12 etudes in thumb positions op 25
ed Martin Rummel

The Battanchon studies are probably the least know in our whole series, although I think that they are excellent special thumb position exercises. Musically they are probably the least rewarding of the lot, but from a pedagogical point of view they are very effective. Finding any information about Battanchon proved to be very difficult; even in Paris where he was teaching they did not have details such as the exact date of his death on record. When the Fétis entry on Battanchon was written, he was still alive, and all other major encyclopedias such as the MGG or Grove do not list him at all. As we were never aiming for a total revival of the composer and did not have funds nor time to go into deep research about details of Battanchon's life, I had to leave it there. For the pedagogic value of the pieces it is irrelevant anyway ...