Renié's Pedagogical Repertoire

Renié’s Pedagogical Repertoire Renié also enriched the pedagogical repertoire of the harp with many original compositions for her students. Several of her pieces fall into this category, including Grand-mère raconte une histoire (Grandmother Tells a Story); Les pins de Charlannes (The Pines of Charlannes); Feuillets d’album (Album Leaves); Feuilles d'automne (Autumn Leaves); Six pièces (Six Pieces), op.1, and Six pièces brèves (Six Short Pieces), op. 2. Fortunately, these works are all currently in print.
Two of these compositions, Les pins de Charlannes and Grand-mère raconte une histoire, are playable on the lever harp and are directed at beginning harp students. Mlle Renié composed Les pins de Charlannes in 1928, and dedicated it to her goddaughter, Françoise Pignal (also known as Françoise des
Written for a beginner on pedal harp, this piece was also dedicated to one of her pupils, Mlle Urbainie de Terssac. The most striking aspect of this composition is Renié’s use of enharmonics to achieve “bell tones” in the left hand at the beginning, and later to create grace notes of the same pitch in the right hand. This serves as an excellent introduction to this idiomatic harp technique. The title of this work carries special meaning because in the Roman Catholic Church, “Angélus” is the term for a commemorative prayer for the Annunciation, accompanied by a bell call. Mlle Renié shared with one of her students, Sally Maxwell, that she specifically had the church on the cliffs of Étretat in mind while writing this work. The opening glissandi are meant to emulate the rolling waves hitting the cliffs below the church. As one climbs the path to the church, the sound of the waves becomes fainter, as the sounds of the bells (played by the left hand) and the organ with choir (played by the right hand) predominates. The piece ends with the sound of rolling glissandi once