Juon, Paul

[22 February] 1872 – d. Vevey, 21 August 1940)

Preface
Though not a master of self-promotion, Paul Juon was definitely a humorist, as can be seen in the following document, which Thomas Badrutt, the leading authority in Juon, assumes was written on 1 April 1907 to satisfy a request from his publisher Robert Lienau for a detailed self-portrait:

Paul Juon: Grand Self-Biography in Seven Volumes.

Volume I.
Born in Moscow on 8 March 1872.

Volume II.
My father was an official in a fire insurance company (today he is the director of one). My mother was fond of dabbling in art; she sang and played a bit. From the circumstance that, as a boy, I liked to stay beneath the grand piano (presumably to study the pedals), it was concluded that I had a great talent for music, and a piano teacher was retained on my behalf. From this lady I learned to play with feeling the complete works of J. Ascher and similar pieces. To my good fortune, the lady soon passed away, and I was given a teacher in the form of L. Samson, from whom I learned more serious things. Later I also received violin lessons, for my father wanted to make a violinist out of me.

Volume III.
I wrote my first composition at the age of twelve or thirteen at the instigation of my father, who had noticed that I liked to sit at the piano and improvise. It was a piano piece called Separation and Reunion. Other than that I know nothing more about it. I only know that from that moment on I “composed” a multitude of miscellaneous pieces (mainly sonatas for violin and piano), which gave me a frightful amount of pleasure, especially when the curlicues and embellishments on the title page were good and plentiful. The title page was my main object. I always drew it first before composing a note of music (sometimes the music was even left uncomposed and I was content with the title page). At that time I knew nothing whatever about the theory of music, which I did not begin to study until I reached conservatory…

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