Jean-Amédée Lefroid de Méreaux (17 September 1802 – 25 April 1874) was a French musicologist, pianist, and composer.
Méreaux was born in Paris. His grandfather,
Nicolas-Jean Lefroid de Méreaux (1745–1797), was a composer of operas and oratorios, while his father, Jean-Nicolas Lefroid de Méreaux, was an organist, pianist and composer of piano works. He was a friend of
Frédéric Chopin.
His compositions are known for their immense difficulty – Marc-André Hamelin considered them more difficult than those of
Charles-Valentin Alkan. His best-known work is his 60 Études, Op. 63. Of this album, the "Bravura" étude, Op. 63 No. 24, has passages where the pianist's two hands cross over each other simultaneously every quaver, at the speed of = 100. However, not all of his works have such difficulties.
Although his works are considered by some, including Hamelin, to be unmusical, this view is not held by everyone. Despite his current obscurity, some of his Op. 63 études were included in piano collections edited by
Isidor Philipp, and there is a street in Rouen named after him. Recently, five of his Op. 63 études have been recorded by Cyprien Katsaris.
As a writer on music, he is known for his study Les Clavecinistes de 1637 à 1790, written between 1864 and 1867.
He died in Rouen.
