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 But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished.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

SKU: HL.50605490

Two Pieces for Harp. Composed by Gergely Vajda. EMB. Classical. Softcover. Editio Musica Budapest #V15211. Published by Editio Musica Budapest (HL.50605490).

ISBN 9781705190548. UPC: 196288126577.

Come un meccanismo di precisione (like a precision machine) - as Gyorgy Ligeti wrote above one of his works. The two harp pieces by Gergely Vajda (*1973) also approach the instrument as a machine, moreover, as a machine that can produce several sounds and noises and create a specific polyphony from them. The two movements, composed in 2020 and 2022, are dedicated to the Ars Nova Ensemble and Collegium21, respectively. Contents: 1. Idle Time 2. Minute Machinery.

(Hors Serie. Musica Varia). By Enrique Granados (1867-1916). Edited by Floraleda Sacchi. For Harp. 32 pages

Harp

SKU: PD.PIL0160

Composed by Maria Rosa Calvo-Manzano. Published by Piles Editorial de Musica (PD.PIL0160).

ISBN 9788486106072.

Harp

SKU: HL.48181024

For Harp. Composed by Henriette Renie. Leduc. Classical. Softcover. 15 pages. Alphonse Leduc #AL20016. Published by Alphonse Leduc (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.

Harp

SKU: HL.48180979

For Harp. Composed by Henriette Renie. Leduc. Classical. CD only. 3 pages. Alphonse Leduc #AL19922. Published by Alphonse Leduc (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.

(Arranged for Harp by Sylvia Woods). By Michael Bubl�©. Arranged by Sylvia Woods. For Harp. Harp. Softcover. Published by Hal Leonard

Harp

SKU: UT.HS-231

Arranged by Sara Simari. Saddle stitching. Classical. Ut Orpheus #HS 231. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.HS-231).

ISBN 9790215324558. 9 x 12 inches.

Tarascone; Tarantella Capuanese; Valzer; Polka di Vittorio; Tarantella Stiglianese

The history of the Viggianesi, strolling musicians, winds over a period of about four centuries and esprimeun ‘unicum’ musically and anthropologically. Heirs of a travelling musical tradition that from the late Middle Ages inhabited more than just the streets of the Kingdom of Sicily and Naples, the harpists of this extraordinary story made their first appearances as early as the end of the 1600s engaged in musical practices at shrines.
Armed with an urgent need to make a living together with a strong musical inclination, adaptability and versatility, the groups of musicians, almost always belonging to the same family circle, became the promoters of the great Italian musical tradition (Southern in particular), and with their harps on their shoulders they became the identification symbol of a well-defined and limited area of Italy: the Agri Valley, in Basilicata.
From the many documents examined, a very wide and varied musical repertoire emerges mixing the pastoral tradition with classical tradition (mainly opera, devotional music with songs from the cities (from the Neapolitan tradition to international production). The pastoral repertoire, the subject of this publication, consists of a strongly characterized native repertoire which the Viggianesi had consolidated in both public and private ritual occasions in their native land, even if performing in distant lands.

This collection is included among the compulsory pieces of The 7th International Harp Contest in Italy Suoni D’Arpa, 2017, Category A – Associazione Italiana dell’Arpa – www.associazioneitalianarpa.it

Harp

SKU: UT.HS-225

Composed by Ferdinando Paer. Edited by Emanuela Degli Esposti and Lorenzo Montenz. Saddle stitching. Classical. 16 pages. Ut Orpheus #HS 225. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.HS-225).

ISBN 9790215323476. 9 x 12 inches.

Suite for Harp, Op. 25. By Marcel Grandjany. For Harp Solo. Classical. Solo part. Opus 25. 23 pages. Published by Carl Fischer.

Harp

SKU: UT.MAG-249

Composed by Francois-Joseph Gossec. Edited by Emanuela Degli Esposti. Arranged by Emanuela Degli Esposti. Saddle stitching. Magadis. Classical. Score and Parts. Ut Orpheus #MAG 249. Published by Ut Orpheus (UT.MAG-249).

ISBN 9790215321137. 9 x 12 inches.

Composed by Yvonne Desportes. For celtic harp. Horizon. Classical. Preparatory 2. Score. Published by Editions Combre

Composed by Antonio Zamara and Franz Schubert. Edited by Emanuela Degli Esposti and Sara Simari. Classical. Ut Orpheus #HS 315. Published by Ut Orpheus