Quite probably the greatest harpist of all time, who transformed modern harp design and wrote the method still in use today.
Born in Paris, in 1875, it was her father who took her to a harp concert when she was five and from then on it was never going to be anything else – even though she was still too small to reach the pedals. He fashioned custom extensions to the pedals to assist her.
Five years later she was studying at the Conservatoire; and one year after that, she gave what is still one of the greatest performances there in history and won the premiere prix. Graduating age 12, she began teaching students twice her age, and kings and queens started issuing her invitations – from Queen Henriette of Belgium to the Emperor of Brazil.
So then she started to compose. They bent the minimum-age rules to allow her back in to study composition and she immediately swept up all the first prizes there as well, causing a sensation with her own music when she made her public debut at 15. Suddenly the harp was seen as a serious solo instrument, unquestionably influencing Debussy and Pierné and Ravel.
The only next step was to address the construction of the harp itself. Working first with Érard, and then their rival Pleyel, she’s the one behind the design of the modern chromatic harp 1894, with both the slanting strings and pedals that we see in concert halls today. Her works include dozens of pieces for solo harp, chamber pieces, harp with orchestra, and her seminal complete method in two volumes which she was working on during the Second World War.
The Légion d'honneur took a while because she was devoutly Catholic, suspect then in France – the authorities actually kept a file on her. That would not come until 1954. But she still broke so many records. First woman to record for Columbia, 1926. First woman to win a Prix du disque. There was the national French harp competition established in her name; the Prix Chartier from the Académie des Beaux Arts. Toscanini wanted her as his harpist here in the States but she declined, she didn’t want to leave Paris. And that’s where she died, age 80, only weeks after her final performance of her famous Légende
Henriette Renié (1875 – 1956)
MUSIC: Contemplation - Andante religioso
Naoko Yoshino, harp
Presented by Anna Clyne
Written and produced by Charlotte Wilson for WMHT
