Lucien Garban (1877–1959) was a French composer, music arranger and editor who wrote transcriptions still performed in the modern repertoire. The

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

lists about twenty original works by Garban and a large number of transcriptions by other composers. Many of his works were published under the pen name Roger Branga. He was a member of Société des Apaches. Garban's transcriptions of music for piano solo or

piano four hands Piano four hands (french: À quatre mains, german: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, it, a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is ...

included

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's string quartet, Introduction and Allegro, '' Rapsodie espagnole,

Valses nobles et sentimentales The ''Valses nobles et sentimentales'' is a suite of waltzes composed by Maurice Ravel. The piano version was published in 1911, and an orchestral version was published in 1912. The title was chosen in homage to Franz Schubert, who had release ...

, Ma mère l'Oye'', Trio for piano, violin and cello, ''Kaddisch'' from ''Deux mélodies hébraïques'', ''

Le tombeau de Couperin ''Le Tombeau de Couperin'' (''The Couperin's Grave'') is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the me ...

'', ''Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré'', and ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

''. He also transcribed a few scenes from the opera ''

L'enfant et les sortilèges ''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first be ...

'' for piano or piano four hands. The four hand piano duet version of '' La valse'' frequently is performed. Other Garban transcriptions include ''

L'apprenti sorcier ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (french: L'Apprenti sorcier) is a symphonic poem by the French composer Paul Dukas, completed in 1897. Subtitled "Scherzo after a ballad by Goethe", the piece was based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 The Sorcer ...

'' by Paul Dukas and Saint-Saëns's ''

Le carnaval des animaux ''The Carnival of the Animals'' (''Le Carnaval des animaux'') is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for priva ...

'' for solo piano. Garban studied under

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

at 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 ...

. He served as musical director of the publishing house Durand until 1959. Around 1900, Garban along with

and a number of young artists, poets, critics, and musicians joined together in an informal group; they came to be known as

Les Apaches Les Apaches (or Société des Apaches) was a group of musicians, writers and artists which formed in Paris, France in 1903. The core was formed by the French composer Maurice Ravel, the Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes and the writer and critic Mic ...

("The Hooligans"), a name coined by Ricardo Viñes to represent their status as "artistic outcasts".

Notable recordings

* The duo Sergio Tempo - Karin Lechner, for example, recorded his version of Ravel's ''

Daphnis et Chloé ''Daphnis et Chloé'' is a 1912 ''symphonie chorégraphique'', or choreographic symphony, for orchestra and wordless chorus by Maurice Ravel. It is in three main sections, or ''parties'', and a dozen scenes, most of them dances, and lasts just u ...

'', suite No. 2 transcribed for two pianos in 2007. * Leon Fleisher recorded Garban's '' La valse'' piano transcription as a duet with his wife – pianist Katherine Jacobson – on the 2015 album Four Hands

References

French music arrangers 20th-century French musicians French composers {{composer-stub