Chamber Music harp

SKU: CF.H84

Composed by Marcel Tournier. Edited by Carl Swanson. Collection - Score. Carl Fischer Music #H84. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.H84).

ISBN 9781491165539. UPC: 680160924530.

Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. Over his long career, he added a significant catalogue of very beautiful works to the harp repertoire. Many of his solo works, almost one hundred, have been consistently in print since they were first published. But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished. These include the Déchiffrages in this edition, as well as songs set for voice, harp, and string quartet, and ensemble arrangements of some of his most beloved works.All of the works that Carl Swanson found were in manuscript only. With the help of the great harpist Catherine Michel, he has put these pieces into playable form, and they are being published for the very first time. He and Catherine often had to re-notate passages to show clearly how they could be played, adding fingerings and musical nuances, tempos, pedals, and pedal diagrams.Tournier wrote these pieces when he was in his 20s, and before he became the impressionistic composer those familiar with his work know so well. They are written in the late nineteenth-century romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. They are beautiful short, intermediate level pieces by a first rate composer, and add much needed repertoire to that level of playing.
Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory with a first prize in harp in 1899. He also studied composition there and won a second prize in the prestigious Prix de Rome competition, as well as a first prize in the Rossini competition, another major composition competition of the day. From 1912 to 1948 he taught the harp class at the Paris Conservatory. But composition, and almost entirely, composition for the harp, was the main focus of his life. His published works, including many works for solo harp, a few for harp and other instruments, and several songs, number around one hundred pieces.In 2019, while researching Tournier for my edition MARCEL TOURNIER: 10 Pieces for Solo Harp, I discovered that there was a significant list of pieces by this composer that had never been published and were not included on any inventory of his music. Principal on this list were his déchiffrages (pronounced day-she-frahge, like the second syllable in the word garage).The word déchiffrage means sight-reading exercise, and that was their original purpose. Tournier numbered and dated these pieces, with dates ranging from 1900 to 1910, indicating that they were in all likelihood written for Alphonse Hasselmans’ class at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier was probably told how long to make each one, and how difficult. They range in length from two to four pages, with only one in the whole series extending to five, and from thirty to fifty-five measures, with only one extending to eight-five. The level of difficulty for the whole series is intermediate, with some at the easier end, and others at the middle or upper end.We don’t know if they were intended to test students trying to enter the harp class, or if they were used to test students in the class as they played their exams. The fact that they were never published means that students had to not only sight read them, but sight read them in manuscript form!I worked from digital images of the original manuscripts, which are in the private music library of a harpist in France. She had twenty-seven of these pieces, and this edition is the second in a series of three that will publish, for the first time, all of the ones that I have found thus far. The manuscripts themselves consist of little more than notes on the page: no pedals written in, no fingerings, few if any musical nuances and tempo markings, and no clear indication as to which hand plays which notes. These would have been difficult to sight read indeed! My collaborator Catherine Michel and I added musical nuances, fingerings, pedals and pedal diagrams, and tempo indications to put them into their current condition.At the time these were written, Tournier would have been in his twenties, having just graduated from the harp class himself (1899), and might still have been in the composition class. These are the earliest known pieces that he wrote, and they were written at the very beginning of a cultural revolution and upheaval in Paris that was to completely and profoundly alter musical composition. Tournier himself would eventually be caught up in this new way of composing. But not yet.All of the déchiffrages are written in the late romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. Each one is built on a clear musical idea, and the variety over the whole series makes them wonderful to listen to as well as to learn. They are also great technical lessons for intermediate level players.The obvious question is: Why didn’t Tournier publish these pieces, and why didn’t he list them on his own inventory of his music? Actually, four of them were published, with small changes, as his collection Four Preludes, Op. 16. These came from the ones that will be in volume three of this series from Carl Fischer. His first large piece, Theme and Variations, was published in 1908, and his two best known and frequently played pieces, Féerie and Au Matin, followed in 1912 and 1913 respectively. We can only speculate because there is so much still unknown about Tournier and about these unpublished pieces. He may have looked at them, fresh out of school as he was, as simply a way to make some quick money. The first several pieces that he did publish are much longer than any of the déchiffrages. So it could be that, because of their shorter length, as well as the earlier musical style that he was moving away from, he chose not to publish any more of them. We may never know the full story. But all these years later, more than a century after they were composed, we can listen to them for their own merits, and not measured against whatever else was going on at the time. The numbers on these pieces are the ones that Tournier assigned to them, and the gaps between some of the numbers suggest that there are perhaps thirty or more of these pieces still to be found, if they still exist. They will, in all likelihood, be found, as these were, in private collections of harp music, not in institutional libraries. We can only hope that more of them will be located in years to come.—Carl SwansonGlossary of French Musical TermsTournier was very precise about how he wanted his pieces played, and carefully communicated this with many musical indications. He used standard Italian words, but also used French words and phrases, and occasionally mixed both together. It is extremely important to observe and understand everything that he put on the page.Here is a list of the French words and phrases found in the pieces in this edition, with their translation.bien chanté well sung, melodiousdécidé firm, resolutediminu peu à peu becoming softer little by littleen diminuant becoming softeren riten. slowing downen se perdant dying awayGaiement gayly, lightlygracieusement gracefully, elegantlyLéger light, quickLent slowmarquez le chant emphasize the melodyModéré at a moderate tempopeu à peu animé more lively, little by littleplus lent slowerRetenu held backsans lenteur without slownesssans retinir without slowing downsec drily, abruptlysoutenu sustained, heldtrès arpegé very arpeggiatedTrès Modéré Very moderate tempoTrès peu retenu slightly held backTrès soutenu very sustainedun peu retenu slightly held back.

Harp Solo. Performed by Sylvia Woods. By Various. Arranged by Sylvia Woods. Harp. Size 8.5x11 inches. 96 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

Fantasia on the Rondo from the Piano Sonata in A major K. 331 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged for harp by Ekaterina Afanasieva (2015). Composed by Fazil Say. Arranged by Ekaterina Afanasieva. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. Der Finalsatz der Sonate A-Dur KV 331 von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, das Rondo Alla Turca, ist eines der bekanntesten Klavierstucke uberhaupt. An diese Popularitat knupft das als effektvolle Zugabe entstandene Stuck von Faz?l Say in der Bearbeitung fur Harf. Classical. Single sheet. Composed 1993. Op. 5b. 8 pages. Duration 4'. Schott Music #ED22797. Published by Schott Music

Harp

SKU: UT.MAG-265

Composed by Wilhelm Posse. Edited by Anna Pasetti. Saddle stitching. Magadis. Classical. Ut Orpheus #MAG 265. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.MAG-265).

ISBN 9790215326422. 9 x 12 inches.

Posse’s compositions for harp are rich and varied, and range from the easy pieces dedicated to his students to the virtuoso concert pieces; we must also remember his didactic works, in particular the ‘Six Small Studies’ and the universally known ‘Eight Great Concert Studies’.
It is not easy to draw a balance of his legacy in the harp world. On one hand his technical vision of virtuosity combined with a great stability of the hand and rigor of the fingerings certainly contributed to the development of the 20th Century harp technique; on the other hand, his use of the pedals, often driven by two together with the same foot (a very old French technique), has gradually become more and more difficult on modern harps. From the point of view of his contribution to the harp repertoire, the constant run-up to the piano has heavily influenced his compositional production, making him often completely miss the idiomatic effects of 19th Century harp music (except for the use of harmonic sounds), which were so loved by his friend Liszt in the compositions of Parish Alvars.

Arranged by Sylvia Woods. Harp. Size 8.5x11 inches. 173 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

Harp

SKU: UT.MAG-274

Composed by Philipp-Joseph Hinner. Edited by Francesca La Carrubba Jessica Pettenà. Saddle stitching. Magadis. Classical. Score and Parts. Ut Orpheus #MAG 274. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.MAG-274).

ISBN 9790215326859. 9 x 12 inches.

Rediscovering, studying and analyzing the musical art of Philipp Joseph Hinner means enhancing a piece of the eighteenth-century harp music mosaic. Hinner's work intrigues for its extraordinary simplicity, for its regularity and harmony; the ordered balance of the parts, symmetry and sense of proportion are essential elements for the author, and give character and unity to his work. The harp repertoire has long been overshadowed by the keyboard one, which boasts extensive solo and chamber literature, and consolidated for over two centuries. The rediscovery of the history of our instrument, however, is still recent and the research work in the field of harp music is still long.
Hinner, with the apparent simplicity of his opus 10, can thus regain his role in the harp repertoire of the eighteenth century, as well as covering a considerable didactic value today. The part of the first harp undoubtedly presents characteristics of greater rhythmic and virtuosic complexity than that of the second, which consists of a continuous accompaniment interspersed with simple thematic imitated episodes. Furthermore in the composition are included arias such as O ma tendre Musette, a French popular melody of the 18th century (previously set to music by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny), and <>, taken from the opera-comique L'erreur d'un moment ou la Suite de Julie by Nicolas Dezede, as well as themes from Gluck's Iphigenie en Aulide, which had been all used also by Hinner's first harp master, Francesco Petrini (1744-1819).
Hinner's opus 10, originally written in separate parts for two harps, or harp and fortepiano, is presented here updated and completed with its score, for a thorough perception of the work.

By Sunita Staneslow. For Harp (Folk/Celtic). Solos. French. Level: Intermediate. Book. 32 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.

Harp

SKU: UT.MAG-276

Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Edited by Anna Pasetti. Saddle stitching. Magadis. Classical. Ut Orpheus #MAG 276. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.MAG-276).

ISBN 9790215326880. 9 x 12 inches.

Johannes Snoer is not one of the most remembered harpists today, but his didactic work was really important and can still be useful today.
For didactic purposes, he also published collections of simple pieces by great composers transcribed for harp.
Among his transcriptions there is the Adagio from Sonata n. 5 in C minor, op. 10 no. 1, by Ludwig van Beethoven, subject of this edition. The original musical text has been left unchanged, only the ornamentation has been written in full and the harp fingerings and indications relating to the movement of the pedals have been added. The work brings the dedication to Mr. H. Rutters, probably a relative of his wife Antoinette.

Folk Harp; Harp

SKU: HL.131541

Arranged for Harp. By A. Great Big World. Arranged by Sylvia Woods. Harp. Pop. Softcover. 4 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.131541).

ISBN 9780936661667. UPC: 888680025564. 8.5x11.0x0.031 inches.

Say Something is an original song by the American duo A Great Big World. The lyrics are about letting go when a relationship ends. It became an international hit when Christina Aguilera joined A Great Big World on a re-recorded version in 2013. Sylvia Woods has made a 4-page advanced beginner to intermediate arrangement, playable on either lever or pedal harp. This music features a pedal point (also called a pedal note or pedal tone), which is a sustained or continually repeated note that is held constant while harmonies change in other parts. A pedal point is usually found in the bass, but here it is in the middle register. Virtually every measure includes a middle C note on the downbeat. Sometimes it is played with the right hand, and at other times with the left. But it is almost always there. This pedal point harmony is what originally drew me into this beautiful piece of music the first time I heard it on the radio. The music is in the key of C, and no sharping levers are required, as there are no lever changes. Fingerings, lyrics and chord symbols are included. The harp range required is 24 strings from a low C up to an E. It can be played on 24-string to 26-string harps with a C as the lowest string if you play both hands an octave higher than written.

For Harp. By Franz Joseph Haydn, Anton Rubenstein, Christoph Willibald von Gluck, Carlos Salzedo. Arranged by Carlos Salzedo. Text: Yolanda Kondonassis. For Harp. Solo part. 64 pages. Published by Carl Fischer.