René Herbin (1911 – 1 September 1953) was a French composer and pianist, who died accidentally in the Mount Cimet air disaster in the French

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

Life

Born in

Vitry-le-François Vitry-le-François () is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. It is located on the river Marne and is the western terminus of the Marne–Rhine Canal. Vitry-le-François station has rail connections to Paris, Reims, Strasbour ...

, Herbin entered the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

at 14 years old. There he studied piano with

Isidore Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

with

Noël Gallon Noël Jean-Charles André Gallon (11 September 1891 – 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a ''Toccata'' for piano, a ''Sonata ...

and

Henri Busser Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Montm ...

. He won two First Prizes. At 26, he accompanied the cellist

Maurice Maréchal Maurice Maréchal (3 October 1892 – 19 April 1964) was a French classical cellist. Maurice Maréchal was born in Dijon at the home of his parents, Jules Jacques Maréchal, an employee for Posts and Telegraphs, and Martha Justine Morier. Afte ...

on a tour of the Middle East. But the war broke out and Herbin was mobilized in 1939. He was taken prisoner in Germany where he remained in captivity for nearly 5 years in several forced labour camps. Interned in very precarious conditions, he nevertheless managed to write many works: a ''Sonata for violin and piano'', ''Deïrdre des Douleurs'' for

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

, ''Sonata for piano'', ''Album d'images'', ''Preludes baroques'', for piano. Returning to Paris in 1945, he resumed his activities as a pianist and composer, and premiered his first piano quartet in 1949 with the Trio Pasquier. In the early 1950s, the State and Radio placed orders with him. It was on this occasion that he composed ''Trois Songes pour orchestre'' (1951) and the ''Concerto pour piano'' (1952) whose posthumous premiere was ensured in 1956 by

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in Li ...

Death

On September 1, 1953, René Herbin, accompanied by the violinist

Jacques Thibaud Jacques Thibaud (; 27 September 18801 September 1953) was a French violinist. Biography Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won the ...

, boarded the Paris-

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flight, the city where the musicians were expected to perform in concert. As they approached the planned stopover at

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

airport, their plane crashed on

mount Cimet Mount Cimet or Cemet is a mountain in the Pelat Massif of the French Alps in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. On the night of 1 September 1953, an Air France Lockheed L-749 Constellation, registered in France as F-BAZZ, also known as Air France Flight 17 ...

in the French Alps. There were no survivors among the 42 people on board.

''Société Musicale René Herbin''

In 1992, Elizabeth Herbin, pianist and daughter of the composer, founded the ''Société Musicale René Herbin'', which was then presided by Vlado Perlemuter and

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

. Its purpose is to make the man and his work known, and to disseminate his music, which is still too confidential and not very well recorded. It thus repairs what the untimely death of a 42-year-old musician recognized by his peers, took away from the French musical life of the first half of the 20th century.

Compositions

List of works by Herbin. * 1929: ''Toccata'' * 1929-1930: ''12 Préludes'', for piano * 1930: ''Fantaisie'', for piano * 1934: ''Ballade'', for piano * 1934-1935: ''6 Études de haute virtuosité'', for piano * 1936: ''6 pièces en forme de suite'', for violin and piano * 1936: ''Poème'', for piano and cello * 1940: ''Album d'images'', for piano * 1940-1941: ''2 divertissements'', for piano (Max Eschig) * 1940-1941: ''Préludes baroques'', for piano * 1941: ''Préambule pour le "Chapeau chinois" de Franc Nohain'', for piano, string quintet, flute, clarinet in Bb * 1941: ''Préambule pour le "Chapeau chinois" de Franc Nohain'', for piano, violin and cello * 1942: ''Sonata for piano'' * 1942: ''Sonata for violin and piano'' * 1943: ''3 Préludes baroques'', for 2 pianos (author's transcription) * 1943: ''Miniatures'', for violin and piano ost piano part * 1943: ''Suite fantasque'', for piano * 1944: ''Deïrdre des douleurs'', for flute and piano (transcription by the author) * 1944: ''Deïrdre des douleurs'', version for

* 1944: ''La mort et le pendu'', for grand orchestre * 1945: ''Burlesque'', for clarinet in B flat and String Quartet * 1945: ''Burlesque'' for piano and clarinet in B flat (transcription by the author) * 1945: ''Mirages'', for oboe and piano * 1946: ''Thème et variation'', for piano * 1948: ''La mort et le pendu'', for 2 pianos (author's transcription) * 1948: ''La mort et le pendu'', for 4-handed piano * 1948: ''Poulenc-adagietto'', for 2 pianos (transcription) * 1948: ''Prière'', for piano * 1948: ''Prières'', for string quartet * 1949: 1st Piano Quartet * 1949: ''Baptême'', for flute and piano (transcription by the author) * 1949: ''Baptême'', for piano, flute, oboe, violin, cello and harp (premiere with

Lily Laskine Lily Laskine (31 August 1893 in Paris – 4 January 1988 in Paris) was one of the most prominent harpists of the twentieth century. Born Lily Aimée Laskine to Jewish parents in Paris, she studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Alphonse Hasse ...

) * 1949: ''Sonata for piano and cello'' * 1950: ''Petite suite Radio française'', for piano * 1950: ''Petites pièces'', for piano * 1950: ''Petite suite Radio-française "dans l'esprit" des vieux contes français'', for grand orchestre (commande de Radio-France) (premiered by

Manuel Rosenthal Manuel Rosenthal (18 June 1904 – 5 June 2003) was a French composer and conductor who held leading positions with musical organizations in France and America. He was friends with many contemporary composers, and despite a considerable list of c ...

) * 1951: ''Divertissement'', for chamber orchestra (commission from Radio-France) * 1951: ''Divertissement'', for piano, 2 violins, cello, double bass and drums * 1951: ''Divertissement'', for violin and piano (author's transcription) * 1951: ''Dona Rosita ou le langage des fleurs'', for piano, 2 violins and cello (transcription by the author) * 1951: ''Dona Rosita ou le langage des fleurs'', for voice and piano * 1951: ''Trois songes'', for large orchestra (commissioned by the State) * 1951: ''4 impromptus'', for piano * 1952: ''Concerto pour piano et orchestre'' (commissioned by the State) (premiered by Vlado Perlemuter) * 1952: ''Polka'', for 4-handed piano (transcription by the author). Dona Rosita) * 1953: ''Dance for piano and saxophone in Eb'' (Billaudot) premiered by Vlado Perlemuter) * 1953: ''Rossini-boutique-fantasque'', for 2 pianos (transcription) * 1953: ''Une fausse gavotte'', for piano and clarinet in B flat(Billaudot)

Recordings

* René Herbin: 1st Quartet for piano and string trio, Élisabeth Herbin, piano;

Alexis Galpérine Alexis Galpérine (born 1955) is a French classical violinist. Career Born in Paris, Galpérine studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Juilliard School in New York. His principal masters were Roland Charmy, Ivan Galamian and Henryk Szer ...

, violin;

Bruno Pasquier Bruno Pasquier (born 10 December 1943 in Neuilly-sur-Seine), is a French violist, the son of Pierre Pasquier, also a violist. Biography After a First Prize at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1961, Pasquier won the ARD International Music Compe ...

, viola; Mark DrobinskyMark Drobinsky
/ref> cello (+

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' (Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of the ...

: '' Légende'', String quartet ''Les Hasards''), CD - 711, Éd. Gallo, 1993.
Discography
(

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

)

References

External links and sources

Biography

Dedicated website
* Presentation leaflet of the above-mentioned CD, texts by Pierrette Germain and

René Herbin, Piano Quartet No. 1: I. Rustique
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Herbin, Rene 1911 births 1953 deaths People from Vitry-le-François Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male classical pianists French military personnel of World War II French prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany