Marcel Georges Lucien Grandjany

Marcel Georges Lucien Grandjany (born September 3, 1891 in Paris , † February 24, 1975 in New York ) was a French harpist , teacher, composer and poet .

Life

Marcel Georges Lucien Grandjany was born in Paris in 1891 and came from a family of musicians. He grew up with an aunt after his mother's death. He received piano and solfeggio lessons from his cousin Juliette Georges Grandjany .

It was Juliette who brought him to her fellow student, the harpist Henriette Renié. She recognized the boy's talent and the nine-year-old became her harp student. At the same age, Marcel was accepted into the piano and solfeggio class at the Conservatoire National de Paris. After the “premier prix” from the Conservatoire in Paris was obligatory, he began studying the harp at the Conservatory with Alphonse Hasselmans in 1902 (however, he remained a private student of Henriette Renié at the same time ). In 1905 he completed this course at the age of 14. He got his “premier prix” with the addition “In unanimous agreement of the jury”, for which he received a new Erard harp as a prize.

At the age of 17, Marcel Grandjany made his concert debut with the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra, and in the same year also the first harp recital. He settled down as a harp teacher in Paris, built a private school and began composing during this time. In 1913 he was one of the finalists for the “prix de Rome”, a coveted prize for composers, but was unable to take part in the final round due to an illness.

Because of his poor health, Grandjany did not have to do any active military service during the First World War . Instead, he was committed to administrative services and also got the post of organist and choirmaster in "Sacré-Cœur" in Paris. After the war, Grandjany met the singer Georgette Boulanger. The two married in 1919 and their son Bernard was born in 1930. In 1921 Grandjany became head of the harp class at the American school in Fontainebleau, which he directed until 1935. He also founded the “Quintette Instrumental de Paris” in 1922 together with the flautist René le Roi. As a soloist he took annual concert tours to Europe from 1923. He made his American debut in 1924 in New York's Aeolian Hall .

In the 1930s, the Grandjanys emigrated to the United States because of National Socialism in Europe. In 1938 Marcel became leader of the harp class at the New York "Juilliard School of Music". He stayed that way for 37 years, until his death. In 1943 he founded the harp class at the "Conservatoire de Musique" in Montreal and traveled there weekly for 20 years to teach. In addition, from 1956 he led the harp class at the Manhattan School of Music for 10 years.

Grandjany was a member of the jury at the first international harp competition in Israel . It was the first occasion where harpists from all over the world met. It was then that the plan for an international harpist connection arose. In 1962 the "International Association of Harpists" was founded and Marcel Grandjany founded the American branch, the "American Harp Society".

Grandjany gave concerts almost until his 80th birthday. After a shoulder injury in 1970, he stopped performing. In 1975 he died of a stroke in New York City.

literature

• K. Bundock Moore: Marcel Grandjany: A Centennial Biography. In: American Harp Journal. Vol. 13, No. 1 (Summer 1991), pp. 3-15
• RK Inglefield: Marcel Grandjany: Concert Harpist, Composer and Teacher. University Press of America, 1977, reprinted by Vanderbilt Music Company, Bloomington, 1990
• R. Rensch: Harps and Harpists. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1989
• JB Weidensaul: Salve festa dies, the Plainchant Foundation of Grandjanys Rhapsody. In: American Harp Journal. Vol. 13, No. 1 (Summer 1991), pp. 26-27
• E. Witsenburg: Marcel Grandjany - Grand Seigneur da la harpe (Part 1). In: Bulletin van de Nederlandse Harp Vereniging. Volume 4 / No. September 3, 1991
• E. Witsenburg: Marcel Grandjany - Grand Seigneur da la harpe (Part 2). In: Bulletin van de Nederlandse Harp Vereniging. Vol. 5 / No. September 3, 1992

Web links

• Marcel Grandjany's biography