Fanny Krumpholtz’s Manuscript Book (1811) (LHS)

“Fanny Krumpholtz Pittar is the elder daughter of the famous late eighteenth-century harp virtuosa, Anne-Marie Krumpholtz (c. 1755-1813)…While there is little biographical information available about her, we do know that Fanny’s native language was French, that she married a diamond merchant, Isaac Pittar, in 1813 or 1814, and that she published from her home…

Fanny Kurmpholtz’s Manuscript Book of her Own Compositions for the Harp, 1811 (London, British Library Additional Manuscript 49288) consists of 21 completed works, one duet fragment, one song sketch, and 17 short progressive preludes.  The 21 completed works, mainly stylized dance forms and themes and variations, appear here in their order of presentation in the manuscript.  These are salon pieces, and the manuscript itself is clearly a performance copy – one which the composer might have used to entertain family and friends.

The works are accessible to the novice, intermediate, and experienced harpist, and they offer versatility in choice of instrument:  while they were composed for the single-action harp (all are playable, of course, on a double-action instrument), many are suitable for the non-pedal harp [lever harp], and a few are designated by the composer as works for piano or harp…

The music offers significant social documentation: it provides us with examples of early nineteenth-century salon music; it provides further evidence of the harp as a serious contender with the piano as a domestic instrument; it illuminates early nineteenth-century harp techniques and performance practices; and it adds to the literature of the harp, original repertoire…

Fanny Krumpholtz’s manuscript book represents a significant cultural and historical vision of domestic music making by a woman composer.” U. Rempel