Henriette Renié

Henriette Renié (18 September 1875 – 1 March 1956) was a French harpist and composer, a deeply religious woman who lived in poverty for much of her life, but who was independent and successful in a time when fame was socially unacceptable for women. She codified a method for harp which is widely used.

Before the age of five, Henriette played piano, but at five, she saw a concert featuring Alphonse Hasselmans, and declared "That man is going to be my harp teacher." She was not allowed to play harp until she was eight, and then her feet did not reach the pedals. She would hop off her bench to change them and then hop up and continue playing; her father eventually developed pedal extensions for her.

Hasselmans had begun teaching at the Paris Conservatoire, and they met half-way to have lessons at Sebastian Érard's workshop. In 1885, she became a regular student at the Conservatoire. At ten, she won a second prize in harp performance (the committee had actually voted to give her first prize, but the director had decided it was inappropriate), and at eleven, she won the Premier Prix.

Renié began teaching early on; at nine, she had declared her brother's friend Fernand Maignen would play the harp and began teaching him, and following her success at the Conservatoire, students from all over Paris, many of them more than twice her age, began seeking her out.

After her graduation at twelve, she gave performances around France and taught students all over Paris. An exception was made for her to take harmony classes at the Conservatoire, which did not normally allow students under fourteen in harmony and composition. She was used as an example, and her professors Théodore Dubois, Ambroise Thomas, and Jules Massenet all encouraged her to compose. However, she was accustomed to the idea that women stayed at home and was reluctant to attract attention; she hid Andante Religioso for six weeks before she showed it to them. (She also was traditional enough that she never went out without a chaperone.)

At fifteen, Renié gave her first solo recital in Paris, marking her growing troubles with Hasselmans, whom her parents had neglected to list as orchestra conductor on the programs. Henriette had them reprinted at her own expense to mollify her teacher. However, tension between them continued as Hasselmans was keeping all the professional students for himself, leaving Henriette to teach young ladies with high social standing, who were only increasing their marriageability; as a result, when serious students approached Renié, she often gave lessons in secret. As time progressed, Hasselmans also refused to recommend her to conductors as a soloist and circulated segments of her unpublished pieces in his classes without giving her any credit. Nonetheless, Renié remained loyal to him.

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