Alphonse Hasselmans (5 March 1845 – 19 May 1912) was a

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

-born French

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

ist,

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 ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

Hasselmans was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, Belgium. He studied initially at the Conservatory in Strasbourg, which was led since 1854 by his father Joseph Hasselmans (1814–1902). He continued his studies with Gottlieb Krüger (1824–1895) in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

and with Ange-Conrad Prumier (1820–1884) in Paris. He began his performing career in the orchestra of the

Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

in Brussels. A series of eight solo concerts in Paris in 1877 resulted in contracts for performances as a soloist with several Paris orchestras. At the death of Prumier in 1884, Hasselsmans succeeded him as professor of harp 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 ...

where he had

Caroline Luigini Caroline Luigini, called ''Câline'', (2 November 1873 in Lyon – 1968 in Paris, aged 94) was a French musician, harpist and professor of harp of Italian origin, born from a family of musicians of Modena, who was the pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns. ...

as assistant, a position he held until his sudden death in Paris at age 67. Hasselmans trained a generation of the most important French harpists of the 20th century, including

Henriette Renié Henriette Renié (; 18 September 1875 – 1 March 1956) was a French harpist and composer who is known for her many original compositions and transcriptions, as well as codifying a method for harp that is still used today. She was a musical pr ...

Marcel Tournier Marcel Lucien Tournier (January 5, 1879 – May 8, 1951) was a French harpist, composer, and teacher who composed important solo repertory for the harp that expanded the technical and harmonic possibilities of the instrument. His works are regula ...

Carlos Salzedo Carlos Salzedo (6 April 1885 – 17 August 1961) was a French harpist, pianist, composer and conductor. His compositions made the harp into a virtuoso instrument. He influenced many composers with his new ideas for the harp's sounds through his w ...

Marcel Grandjany Marcel Georges Lucien Grandjany ( ) (3 September 1891 – 24 February 1975) was a French-American harpist and composer. Biography Early life Marcel Grandjany was born in Paris and began the study of the harp at the age of eight with Henriet ...

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 Hassel ...

, and Pierre Jamet. He became a French citizen in 1903.Sylvie Janssens: "Hasselmans, Alphonse", in: ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (MGG), biographical part vol. 8, Kassel: Bärenreiter (2002), cc. 827–828. Hasselmans' daughter, Marguerite Hasselmans (1876–1947), was a concert pianist; she was also the mistress of

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 ...

for many years. His son, Louis Hasselmans (1878–1957), was a conductor, especially of opera, whose career took him to the United States, working at the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financi ...

and the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

before becoming Professor of Music at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Compositions

Hasselmans composed several dozen original solos for harp, of which his most famous is a concert

étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...

entitled ''La Source'' (''The Wellspring''), Op. 44. He transcribed numerous works for harp originally written for other instruments by other composers, and edited important collections of studies by the earlier 19th-century harpist

Nicolas-Charles Bochsa Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (9 August 1789 – 6 January 1856) was a harpist and composer. His relationship with Anna Bishop was popularly thought to have inspired that of Svengali and Trilby in George du Maurier's 1894 novel '' Trilby' ...

Discography

*''Alphonse Hasselmans: Music For Harp'', performed by Floraleda Sacchi, on
Brilliant Classics 94625
CD (2013). Contains: ''Sérénade'', Op. 5; ''Romance'', Op. 6; ''Patrouille'', Op. 18; ''Gitana'', Op. 21; ''Petite valse'', Op. 25; ''Marguerite au rouet, ou Fileuse: Gretchen am Spinnrade'', Op. 27; ''Au monastère'', Op. 29; ''Mazurka'', Op. 31; ''Menuet'', Op. 34; ''Gondoliera'', Op. 39; ''Chanson de mai'', Op. 40; ''Nocturne'', Op. 43; ''La Source'', Op. 44; ''Follets'', Op. 48; ''Gnomes'', Op. 49; ''Guitare'', Op. 50.

References

External links

Scores by Alphonse Hasselmans
from the

International Harp Archives The International Harp Archives (IHA) is a collection of archives from the World Harp Congress, American Harp Society, and individual harpists. It is located at the Harold B. Lee Library in Brigham Young University (BYU). The archives began as a c ...

on archive.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselmans, Alphonse 1845 births 1912 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers Composers for harp Conservatoire de Paris faculty French male classical composers French classical harpists French Romantic composers Musicians from Liège