Contemplation

Henriette Renié (1875–1956) was the most celebrated female harpist and harp composer of the late Romantic era, winner of the Paris Conservatoire's First Prize at the age of eleven and a virtuoso who toured Europe and America to universal acclaim. Her Contemplation, composed in 1901, is among her most beloved shorter works and a staple of the intermediate-to-advanced harp repertoire. The piece is a serene meditation in a flowing compound metre, its long-breathed melodic line floating over gently undulating arpeggiated accompaniment in the left hand, with carefully placed harmonics giving a luminous, otherworldly shimmer to the texture. Renié's writing is always idiomatic to the instrument's natural resonance, and Contemplation perfectly captures the quality of dreamy, spiritual introspection its title suggests. The work is taught in virtually every conservatoire harp curriculum as an example of Romantic salon writing at its most refined.