Chanson dans la nuit

No ordinary harpist, Carlos Salzedo brought his instrument, it has been said, “into the twentieth century.” After studying with the venerable Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatoire, where he graduated in 1901 with first prizes in both harp and piano - which was a rare distinction - he went on to develop the potential of the harp not only as a virtuoso performer but also as a prolific composer and, after his emigration to the United States in 1909, a dedicated teacher. His most popular original piece Chanson dans la nuit (Song in the Night) is one of fifteen Preludes published in his “Method for the Harp” in 1927 to illustrate some of his many innovations in harp sonority and the notation to represent them. Clearly French in extraction, in style and harmony, it secures its atmospheric effects largely through gestures long characteristic of the instrument but also by less conventional means like plucking the strings with the nails or tapping with the fingers. Whatever the technical means, it is an inspired little piece of nocturnal evocation.