DingDing

Légende - Henriette Renié

近日開始學習一首Renié 的豎琴作品, 在細閱關於這位作曲家的資料時，發現她是一位女豎琴家及作曲家。數算起來，她要算是我認識的第一位女作曲家了。而且在她生活的年代，這可是難能可貴。

在練習她的樂曲時也隱隱感到她的編曲風格有點兒特別。後來了解她生活的年代，剛好是double-action harp 初萌芽的時候，而她是主張使用double action harp 的一群，故不難想像她的作品特別顯示了一些double action harp的特性。

網上找來一些這位少年天才豎琴家的資料與大家分享...... 
......Henriette Renié (1875-1956) was a French harpist and composer, a deeply religious woman who lived in poverty for much of her life, but who was independent and successful in a time when fame was socially unacceptable for women. She created a method for harp, which is one of the most widely used methods in the harp world today, along with that of Carlos Salzedo.

At five, she saw a concert featuring Alphonse Hasselmans, and declared "That man is going to be my harp teacher." She was not allowed to play harp until she was eight, and then her feet did not reach the pedals. She would hop off her bench to change them and then hop up and continue playing; her father eventually developed pedal extensions for her.

Hasselmans had begun teaching at the Paris Conservatoire, and they met half-way to have lessons at Sebastian Erard's workshop. In 1885, she became a regular student at the Conservatoire. At ten, she won a second prize in harp performance (the committee had actually voted to give her first prize, but the director had decided it was inappropriate), and at eleven, she won the Premier Prix.
Renié began teaching early on; at nine, she had declared her brother's friend Fernand Maignen would play the harp and began teaching him, and following her success at the Conservatoire, students from all over Paris, many of them more than twice her age, began seeking her out.

After her graduation at twelve, she gave performances around France and taught students all over Paris.

At fifteen, Renié gave her first solo recital in Paris.  In 1903, she composed another successful piece called Légende based on Les Elfes by Leconte de Lisle.

Her ' Légende ' and the poem on youtube....


More information about Renie's life and her influence: "The Legend of Henriette Renié "

http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=1kcdYpZ8GYQC&pg=PA60&dq=Reni%C3%A9+legende