Born on 28 October 1920 in Marseille, Annie D’Arco began musical studies with the mother of the flautist Alain Marion. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of fourteen as a pupil of Marguerite Long, winning a Premier Prix there in 1938. Following World War II, she won the Concours de Genève in 1946. D’Arco recorded modestly as a solo artist during the 78 era – during the LP era, she served as accompanist to a wide variety of artists, including Henryk Szeryng, André Navarra, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Pierre Pierlot. She died in France in 1998 at the age of 77 after a long illness. Her commercial recordings were released on the L’Oiseau-Lyre, Calliope and Erato labels and included music by Mendelssohn, Chabrier, Weber, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Jolivet, Chopin, Schubert, and Fauré. Mendelssohn always occupied an important place in D’Arco’s repertoire, therefore it is not surprising that among her earliest recordings is the impassioned performance of the Etude in F major, Op. 104, No. 2 (Track 2) which she recorded in Paris in early 1951.