Charles-Louis Hanon (2 July 181919 March 1900) was a French

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He is best known for his work '' The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises'', which is still used today for modern piano teaching, but over the years the method has also faced criticisms. He was born in

Renescure Renescure (; nl, Ruisscheure) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. Renescure is the village where Bonduelle S.A. opened its first cannery. Heraldry See als ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1819, and died in

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

in 1900.

Biography

Charles-Louis Hanon was born in northern France in the village of Renescure on July 2, 1819. Trained as an organist by a local teacher, it is not known if he received more advanced musical education. At age 27, he moved a short distance east from Renescure to Boulogne-sur-Mer where he lived with his brother François who was also a musician. Music was never the exclusive focus of Hanon's life: he was also a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, a Third Order Franciscan and a member of the

Society of St. Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

. It is known from an 1869 article that Hanon was involved with a monastic order called the "Brothers of the Christian Schools". Founded in the 17th century by Saint

John Baptist de la Salle Jean-Baptiste de La Salle () (; 30 April 1651 – 7 April 1719) was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a saint of the Catholic Church and the patron saint for tea ...

, the schools run by the order provide free instruction to poor children. One such school was established in Boulogne-sur-Mer in approximately 1815 by Léon de Chanlaire and Father Benoît-Agathon Haffreingue; free music instruction was offered there by 1830.

''The Virtuoso Pianist''

Piano students all over the world know of Hanon's famous training exercises. Both

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

and

Josef Lhévinne Josef Lhévinne (13 December 18742 December 1944) was a Russian pianist and piano teacher. Lhévinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: ''Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing''. Asked how to say his name, he told ''The Li ...

claimed Hanon to be the secret of why the Russian piano school delivered an explosion of virtuosi in their time, for the Hanon exercises have been obligatory for a long time throughout Russian conservatories; there were special examinations at which one had to know all exercises by heart, to be played in all keys at high speed. Although most respected pedagogues and pianists acknowledge the value of Hanon's exercises, they have their detractors. Some critics have questioned the merits of the independent finger technique which the exercises seek to cultivate, with some pedagogues, such as

Abby Whiteside Abby Whiteside (Aug 27, 1881 Vermillion, South Dakota – Dec 10, 1956 Menlo Park, California) was an American piano teacher. She challenged the finger-centric approach of much classical piano teaching and instead advocated a holistic attitude in ...

, considering them to be actively harmful. It has become a custom in some music schools to hold a Hanon Marathon, in which the exercises are played competitively, the

Church Street School for Music and Art The Church Street School for Music and Art, located in Tribeca, New York, is a non-profit school for the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They enco ...

being the first to have coined the term and hold the event.

Other works and derivatives

Hanon also wrote 50 instructional pieces, ''Méthode Élémentaire de Piano'', and a collection of ''50 Ecclesiastical Chants''. Charles Nunzio wrote ''Hanon for Accordion'', a two-volume set of exercises for

piano accordion A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more that of an organ than a piano, as they are both aerophones, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro ...

based on a similar philosophy, which has recently been reissued in an updated edition. A ''Hanon'' for

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and bass have also been written.

Sources

*Josef Lhévinne - ''Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing'' *

James Francis Cooke James Francis Cooke (November 14, 1875, Bay City, Michigan – March 3, 1960, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania) spent his life involved with music.''New York Times'' obituary, March 5, 1960, ''Dr. James Cook, 84, Ex-Editor of Etude'' He was a pianist, ...

- ''Great pianists on piano playing'' (chapter - Rachmaninov)

References

External links