Born in Paris in 1891, the harpist Marcel Grandjany had his early musical training with a relative, Juliette Georges Grandjany, winning a scholarship at the age of eight to study the harp with Henriette Renié. At the Paris Conservatoire he was, from 1902 until 1910, a pupil of Alphonse Hasselmans. He made his Paris debut with the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra in 1909, and after a relatively brief period of military service was from 1915 to 1918 organist and choirmaster at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. He spent 14 years as a teacher at the American Conservatoire at Fontainebleau, and, after his London debut in 1922, he made his first appearance in New York two years later. He toured widely in Europe and North America and was co-founder of the Quintette Instrumental de Paris, for which composers such as Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel wrote works. From 1936 he made his home in America, taking out American citizenship in 1945.

Harp Music

Grandjany wrote a quantity of music for the harp, all of it well suited to the instrument, including original compositions and transcriptions.