Alphonse Jean Hasselmans was born March 5, 1845 in
Liege, Belgium and died May 19, 1912 inParis, France.
He was a French harpist and composer of Belgian birth,
son of Josef H. Hasselmans. He first studied the harp
with his father, then with Gottlieb Kruger in
Stuttgart, Xavier Desargus in Brussels and Ange-Conrad
Prumier (son of Antoine Prumier) in Paris. The early
part of his career was spent in Brussels, where he
became harpist at the Theatre de la Monnaie. In 1877 he
gave eight successful sol...(+)
Alphonse Jean Hasselmans was born March 5, 1845 in
Liege, Belgium and died May 19, 1912 inParis, France.
He was a French harpist and composer of Belgian birth,
son of Josef H. Hasselmans. He first studied the harp
with his father, then with Gottlieb Kruger in
Stuttgart, Xavier Desargus in Brussels and Ange-Conrad
Prumier (son of Antoine Prumier) in Paris. The early
part of his career was spent in Brussels, where he
became harpist at the Theatre de la Monnaie. In 1877 he
gave eight successful solo concerts in Paris, which
brought him appointments as solo harpist with the Paris
orchestras of the Conservatoire, Opera and
Opera-Comique. In 1884 he succeeded his teacher Prumier
as professor of the harp at the Conservatoire. He
revised the harp course, and the principles of his
teaching appear in his article "La harpe et sa
technique".
As a virtuoso Hasselmans was a significant force in the
revival of harp playing at the turn of the century. A
large number of compositions of value were inspired by
his performance and dedicated to him. His own
compositions for harp have added much technical value
to the repertory of the instrument. He wrote some 50
pieces which include Gitana op. 21, La Source op. 44
and many transcriptions
"Gitana" was written by Hasselmans in 1890 entirely for
Harp.
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