PERFORMERS
- Jane Yoon, harp
ABOUT THE CONCERT
Legende (d'apres Les Elfes de Leconte de Lisle) is one of the cornerstones - and one of the most demanding pieces - of the solo harp repertoire. The French harpist-composer Henriette Renie (1875-1956) wrote it in 1901, at the age of twenty-six, and it was first performed the following year. A programmatic work, it draws on "Les Elfes," a ballad by the Parnassian poet Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894) in which a knight riding to his wedding is lured to his death by elves. Renie dedicated the piece to her teacher, the Paris Conservatoire harp professor Alphonse Hasselmans. A virtuoso admired across Europe, Renie greatly expanded the expressive and technical range of her instrument and inspired later composers to write idiomatically for the harp.