French Pianism: A Historical Perspective by Charles Timbrell

The undisputed preeminence of Paris as a center of the piano, really not true and this gives a good fight. There is the intention of the author when he defends his nation.

No one disputes the influence of the great Frenches, but are just large contributors within a global complex:
Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot, Nadia Boulanger, Magdalena Tagliaferro

Horowitz never' studied in Paris, but in Kiev, and Rubinstein studied in Warsaw and Berlin and then will gave classes in Paris in the early twentieth century and perhaps influenced the whole school it is today.

Richter studied with 'Heinrich Neuhaus' that has a book for the Russian school of piano: 'The Art of Piano Playing'

Chopin never had a single lesson in Paris, but had lots of French students, and who knows the Polish influence has moved on the basis of a French school.
Liszt argued with Wagner a new German school and was invited to play at the Paris Conservatoire only. Brahms that was German, assigned a manifest against this new German school. Understandable, but, A. Schoenberg defended him later.

'French piano school' is just only one perspective on how to teach or play the piano, but is far of been a true, proved by the historical time line, since Ukranians and Russians developed their own school, that made the most effective pianists told by the proper history of the piano.

And the German School of piano, well, nobody knows what is it, since it was born in AUSTRIA, but applied today in the German, maybe the many ancient books made by Britishes that just believed that Austrians were Germans, whose books have spread around the world.

But, we have clues in some books that what was the German School in which Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Bach helped to build and the same for old Italian books that have influenced a lot all the schools for the keyboard playing.

An importand fact to point is that the French "Hanon" which is one of the most used pianos exercice books used around the world ever, was a real true influence of the Paris Conservatoire that spred to all the schools of music around the globe, but, it´s was just published in 1873, in the same year that born "Rachmaninoff".
But the question is: which piano excercices did, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelsohn, Chopin and all those masters that born decades before Hanon?
Liszt studied with Czerny, but even Czerny studied with Beethoven.

Well, after the most important school of Paris, Hanon have been obligatory for a long time throughout Russian conservatories, that a true French influence on how to teach the piano, "Rachmaninoff" said that it was the most important techique book he studied in his life and what made the Ukranians and Russians the most amazing pianists in the transition of XIX to XX century. Nevertheless, Russians have their own school for the piano.

By the way, many good professionals of the piano noadays, simply hate Hanon