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Speaking of repertoire, I have been laboring for about three years to edit the Deux Pieces by Florent Schmitt, originally for chromatic harp, as pedal harp pieces. I believe I have finally completed that process, and can move on to finishing learning and publishing the pieces. These are huge pieces, perhaps the biggest in scale yet seen for the harp. They are together, close to twenty minutes in length, at least fifteen, a very sophisticated romantic style, somewhat like Faure but with much more elaboration and length, very masterful music. Florent Schmitt was a major composer, but perhaps the least known of the famous French masters. He and Salzedo served together in World War I. He also wrote a piece for chromatic harp and string quartet that I have edited, but not copied. It is also very large in scale and very demanding. None of these pieces are actually that chromatic except in a few spots.
I have added Bochsa’s advanced etudes into my practice to see what would happen, along with some of Damase and a few others. I do feel some strengthening. After doing exercises, they seem to clear my mind before going on to solos. However, I am also remembering old patterns, where I tend to only sight-read them, as they are too boring for detailed practice, or too consistent to present clear challenges, and I am fatigued if I play one more than twice. Thus they present frustration and challenges that are not well overcome, when they have one sticky spot. I remember as a student that I benefitted much more from extensive use of exercises, and working on orchestra parts and literature. I think the biggest problem is the lack of first-rate etudes. I think that we need a project to have many composers writing etudes. Harpists who compose have a difficulty in overcoming their great knowledge of the instrument to be truly creative. It is also a rather stale genre. Damase’s etudes are good, but seem to mostly make it much more comfortable to play his vast oeuvre of harp music. They do create much familiarity with diatonic harmonies. Bovio’s look good, haven’t really used them yet. The Bochsa, Dizi, Godefroid seem too limited, especially in left-hand use, and harmony, and rather stuck in keyboard ideas. Hasselmans is a cut above, but doesn’t seem to have many. You can’t really beat La Source or his Prelude for arpeggiated etudes. Salzedo’s are, of course, supremely difficult and specialized. I have completed a few transcriptions from Paganini’s Caprices, but may not do more, because so much of them are engaged in chromatic scales, and how much of that do we really need to work on? Naderman’s Sonatas, the long one, make certainly good etudes, as do Krumpholtz, Rossetti and Cardon. Not necessarily great music, but some pieces stand out. It would be a good thing to find more solo music by Boieldieu, if there were any. Why has the original ms. or publication of his concerto never surfaced?
You said serious music, so get a copy of Telynn by Pierick Houdy, or the Quatres Caprices Diatoniques by Alexander Tcherepnin, of which I gave the U.S. premiere.
I think it is grossly unfair to decide that no one appreciates a harp just because they get it for free. Giving a harp to an institution can be a bit of a burden if funds for its maintenance don’t come with it. Ideally, you would leave a small trust for its upkeep. I would suggest leaving it to a school that has a or will start a teaching program, a church or temple where it will be played in services, or a concert hall where it will be used in concert (perhaps the best place.)
Dussek is the classical master when it comes to harp, followed by Spohr, Boeildieu, Krumpholtz, Meyer and many others.
Thank you, Tony! How inspiring to hear that. I have been working on and off on several ideas.
As for this paper, I note that you don’t seem to be comparing exact duplicates, in that I don’t believe McDonald was a pupil of Granjany’s, so a more-exact comparison might be Hasselmans-Salzedo-Chalifoux-Kondonassis and Hasselmans-Renie-McDonald. I think you should also read the book “French Pianism” for background. It is very relevant.
One of the areas where you will find the most divergence will be fingerings and transcriptions, which are conveniently print-oriented and easy to compare.
The house has been so severly altered, it bears no resemblance to what it was. On the other hand, having been expanded, the living room is now enormous and a wonderful size for a recital.
You have lots of options, I should think, including Williams College. Do you have a preferred area in which you want your college to be located?
The difficulty of maintaining the site in its current form only goes to show the value of a print publication, such as yours.
Speaking of Hester, it is really creepy to have an anonymous spy watching everything, a Big Sister who is my friend whether I like her or not. That blows.
Is there any way you can be your own department? One consequence is in who sits on juries and auditions. I doubt that inclusion of harp would result in greater participation. String players don’t think about us and don’t know the literature.
The harp is in the chordophone class of strings, separate from bowed strings, which are in the lyre family (which includes guitars and lutes).
