SKU: 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 But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished.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.
SKU: HL.431600
ISBN 9781705163382. UPC: 196288064633. 9.0x12.0x0.234 inches.
Meticulously curated, Beautiful songs for Harp features 28 timeless melodies, thoughtfully arranged for harpists of all levels. Suitable for both pedal and lever harps, this new collection is perfect for harpists looking to enhance their current repertoire. Songs include: And I Love Her ⢠Bless the Broken Road ⢠Bring Him Home ⢠Can't Help Falling in Love ⢠For All We Know ⢠God Only Knows ⢠Hallelujah ⢠I Will Always Love You ⢠If Ever I Would Leave You ⢠Mia and Sebastian's Theme ⢠Morning Has Broken ⢠On the Street Where You Live ⢠The Rainbow Connection ⢠The Sound of Silence ⢠You've Got a Friend ⢠and more.
SKU: CF.H82
ISBN 9781491160183. UPC: 680160918782.
Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose is arguably one of the most well-known and well-loved of Ravel's works. Whether one encounters it first in its original iteration for piano, four hands, or in the sweeping orchestra transcription, Mother Goose leaves an impression that isn't soon forgotten. The pieces are short, simple, and descriptive, but are nonetheless ravishing, and beautifully showcase Ravel’s genius and compositional skills. Now for the first time, the entire work has been transcribed for solo harp by harpist Carl Swanson. Each of the original five movements has been carefully edited, making the pieces playable on solo harp, while keeping the spirit that Ravel intended. Here is a valuable addition to the harp repertoire by one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, Maurice Ravel.
SKU: UT.MAG-221
ISBN 9790215318625. 9 x 12 inches.
Martin-Pierre Dalvimare, born in 1770, in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir), from a distinguished family, learnt music as an entertainment art, and was obliged to make it a resource for his existence, after the troubles of the Revolution in 1789. He had acquired a remarkable talent for the harp; when he arrived in Paris he made a very good impression. Then, man of the world, knowledgeable in many fields, which is rare for a musician, he was welcome everywhere, and very soon came in friendly terms with some of the most renowned artists and men of letters of his times. The marriage certificate of the poet Legouve (15 pluviose of the year XI, or February 1803, 12th municipality of Paris), shows that Dalvimare was one of his best men and that at the time he was thirty-two years old. He became harpist of the Opera in the year VIII (1800), and was definitively confirmed in the month of fructidor of the year IX. At the time of the institution of the emperor Napoleon's private music, M. Dalvimare was appointed as his harpist. In September 1807 he obtained the title of harp master of the empress Josephine. A lucky change of his fortune allowed this artist to renounce to practise his talent for living, he resigned from all of his positions on March, 12th, 1812, and he retired in Dreux, where he still was living in 1837. For a peculiar weakness, he does not like to speak about his artist career, which had been entirely honourable, and he would like to forget his success too. His first composition was a symphonie concertant for harp and horn, which he composed with Frederic Duvernoy, and published in the year VII (1798); notwithstanding, he counted as his first opus a collection of romances with accompaniment of piano or harp, which he later published with Pleyel.In 1809 Dalvimare composed, for the theatre Feydeau, a one-act opera-comique called The Marriage for Imprudence. The music was weak; the work did not succeed, and people used to say that the greatest imprudence had been the one of the authors who had it performed. Nevertheless, the score of this opera was published in Paris by erard. (Francois-Joseph Fetis).
SKU: UT.MAG-293
ISBN 9790215328341. 9 x 12 inches.
John Stanleyâ??s 30 Voluntaries (translatable as preludes), published in three collections as opp. 5, 6 and 7, are among the best known organ works of the 18th century. These free-style compositions were received with great appreciation by his contemporaries; the first volume, published in 1748, immediately achieved canonical status and encouraged other composers to write similar collections. The pieces, of easy to medium difficulty, are for manuals (alternatively, they can also be played on the harpsichord) and comprise two movements, slow and fast, many of which are characterized by a certain rhythmic energy and richness of color, expressed through the use of solo registers such as cornet and trumpet, with multiple echo effects, here adapted and transformed into piano, forte, and playing near the sound board effect, limiting, or rather modifying, their results.
SKU: 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.
SKU: MB.95472
ISBN 9780786604951. UPC: 796279025461. 8.75 x 11.75 inches.
The book, musician, entertainer, teacher, and recording artist Carol Stober provides melody lines, lyrics, chord symbols, and melody tablature for 35 tunes she learned in Appalachia. The stories woven through the music portray a mixture of life situations that were ever-present in the difficult struggle for survival of our ancestors. The lyrics of many of these songs, although sometimes harsh, give insight into the values of the Appalachian people. The autoharp tablature provides detailed indications for different types of thumb and finger strokes, plucking, and string pinching.
SKU: HL.48181024
UPC: 888680878566. 9x12 inches.
French harpist and composer, Henriette Renié (1875-1956) lived in poverty for much of her life. However, this did not stop her from composing significant works for the harp, including Legend of the Elves inspired the poem of the same name by French poet, Leconte de Lisle. Despite being a talented composer, Renié lived at a time where fame and success was socially unacceptable for women. In 1903, she composed her substantial work for harp, Legend of the Elves. As a highly virtuosic work, this Renié piece displays use of cadenza passages, exploitation of tonality, complex rhythms and variety in performance directions. For advanced harpists, Renié's Legend of the Elves is an exciting and varied addition to the repertoire.
SKU: HL.48181026
UPC: 888680878597.
This book, the first volume of Famous Studies for the Harp - Fifty Studies, Op. 34 by Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, was dedicated to J.B. Cramer. Edited and arranged according to Hasselmans's methods by R. Martenot, it features the studies 1 to 25 for intermediate harp players and above. This volume is followed by a second book including the studies 26 to 50. Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789-1856) was a musician and composer able to play the flute, the piano and the harp. He became the harpist of the Imperial Orchestra but had to move to London where he was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Music.
SKU: HL.48180979
UPC: 888680878399. 9x12 inches.
French harpist and composer, Henriette Renié (1875-1956) lived in poverty for much of her life. However, this did not stop her from composing significant works for the harp, including Grandmother Tells a Story, an easy piece for beginners of the instrument. Despite being a talented composer, Renié lived at a time where fame and success was socially unacceptable for women. In 1940, Grandmother Tells a Story was published. As a easy piece, this Renié work is suitable for beginners of the instrument, including detailed performance directions and fingerings. For all beginner harpists, Renié's Grandmother Tells a Story is an exciting and varied addition to the repertoire.
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