Lucile Lawrence

Lucile Lawrence (February 7, 1907 in New Orleans – July 8, 2004 in Englewood, New Jersey) was a leader among American harpists.

At the end of her life, she was actively teaching as a faculty member of Boston University and the Manhattan School of Music as well as teaching privately.

Lawrence was born into a prominent family with historic roots in New England (Lawrence, Massachusetts).

Her father was a prominent businessman in New Orleans, at one time owner of the first cold-storage warehouse in the city.

He once boated the length of the Mississippi with Mr. Hormel, of the meat-packing plant in Minnesota.

She was a fourth-generation harpist, beginning her studies at age six.

Her aunt was for many years a prominent non-professional Boston harpist, who performed the Boston premiere of the Debussy Sonata for harp, flute and viola.

At the age of eight, Lucile appeared as soloist with the New Orleans Junior Philharmonic.

A prodigious student, she was introduced to Carlos Salzedo while he was in New Orleans performing on tour with his Trio de Lutece, and began private study with him in New York and Seal Harbor at age fourteen, then returned to finish high school at age fifteen, thereafter studying full-time in New York.

Her advanced studies were all conducted privately, with music history and theory lessons taken with the eminent composer Edgard Varese.

[all notes from private conversations with Miss Lawrence and other published articles] Her studies consisted of at least two harp lessons a week, piano study and practicing harp four to five hours daily, along with two hours of piano, French studies, and swimming and riding.

It was during summers of study in the artistic colony of Seal Harbor, Maine that Lucile came to know many society people and prominent musicians.

She recalled the games of charades all would gather to play, and how Leopold Stokowski would swaddle his head in diapers to play the clue, "Moses in the bullrushes".

She made her professional debut at age 18 with an eight-month concert tour of Australia and New Zealand, a lengthy 123-concert tour of joint recitals with the soprano Edna Thomas.

She enjoyed recalling lunching with Fritz Kreisler while on tour, as he was also touring the same area.

Upon returning to the U.S., she continued her private study with Salzedo, toured as first harpist in the Salzedo Harp Ensemble throughout the U.S., and with her own Lawrence Harp Quintette on smaller engagements.

She then married Salzedo, an event that was noted in the Minneapolis Journal, but they were later divorced in 1936.

She subsequently married Paul Dahlstrom, a colleague from Radio City Music Hall, and they had a family together.

She appeared as harp soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Conductorless Orchestra, the George Barrere Ensemble, the Coolidge Festival of Chamber Music, in duo-recital with Carlos Salzedo and in the New York Trio with Frances Blaisdell and Seymour Barab.

She premiered Salzedo's Concerto for Harp and Seven Winds and recorded it as well.

She later performed for several years in the symphony orchestra of Radio City Music Hall, and in the 1950s on television in the Firestone Orchestra.

She was a sought-after orchestral harpist, turning down full-time positions with top orchestras (New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera) to remain a free-lance artist and teacher.

As such, she made many recordings under the baton of Leopold Stokowski.

While she was married to Salzedo, they made a summer trip to Europe to fulfill concert engagements and met with Maurice Ravel.

She recalled performing his Introduction et Allegro for him and receiving his instructions on how to perform it.

Salzedo presented to Ravel his arrangement of the well-known Sonatina as a trio for flute, cello, and harp.

They quoted Ravel's response as, 'Why didn't I think of that?' It was agreed that upon their return the next summer, Ravel would compose a harp concerto.

The next year, Salzedo decided he needed to start a summer teaching center rather than make another trip to France, even though it meant foregoing the promise of a concerto for harp by Ravel.

Instead, the Salzedos purchased a house in Camden, Maine, remodeled it with interior decoration by the renowned designer Jules Bouy, and launched the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony, which continued into the late 1990s.

The harp solos in orchestral works by Ravel may provide a clue as to what kind of work he might have composed.

Lawrence was a dedicated teacher for most of her life, an idealist and a pedagogue, publishing several methods and texts on harp as well as collections of music for performing.

The Method for the Harp by Lawrence and Salzedo was her idea, to assist with teaching.

In creating it, she created a powerful tool for learning through a modern approach and modern music, and the best description of Salzedo's influential teaching.

This began a collaborative partnership of several books.

The Salzedo Method, as it is referred to, is perhaps the most widely used harp method book of the 20th Century.

It is a deliberate break, in some aspects, with the traditional French approach found in methods by contemporaries such as Renie.

It is more of a leap directly from the popular Universal Method of Bochsa into the Modern age, bypassing the late-romantic period altogether.

Lucile Lawrence was a faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Musical Academy where she founded the Harp Department, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, (was hired to teach at the Juilliard School), Yale University, Boston University and Boston University Tanglewood Institute where she founded their Harp Seminar, and Harvard University.

She also taught privately, and gave master classes throughout the United States.

She performed a famous recital to open the American Harp Society National Conference in San Diego, in which she performed nearly all the major solo works for harp by Carlos Salzedo, her teacher and former husband, which she also released on a two-LP album.