Joan Chissell was born in
Cromer, and was educated at the Manor School in
Sheringham. She gained a scholarship at
Royal College of Music (RCM) in 1937, where she studied piano and composition with
Kendall Taylor, theory under
Herbert Howells and history and criticism under
Frank Howes. Despite this, while at the RCM she gave the first UK performance of
Maurice Ravel's
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. and broadcast for the
BBC. She was devoted to the music of
Robert Schumann (also an aspiring pianist whose career was curtailed by injury), and wrote two books about him (1948, "Master Musicians" series; 1972). Her other writings concern Schumann's wife
Clara Schumann (
Clara Schumann, a dedicated spirit: a study of her life and work, 1983), their friend
Johannes Brahms (1977), and
Frédéric Chopin (1965). She was a juror at the
Sydney International Piano Competition in 1988 and 1992, and at other international music competitions. Joan Chissell died in 2007, aged 87. She never married. ==Legacy==