Henri Kling

From Wind Repertory Project
Henri Kling

Biography

Henri Adrien Louis Kling (14 Fbruary 1843, Paris - 2 May 1918, Geneva, Swit.) was a French composer.

By the time he was ten, Kling had decided to make music his life's work. He first studied French horn and later played the violin, piano, and organ. At the age of 20, he was appointed solo horn player with the Geneva (Switzerland) Opera and the Pepin Orchestra. In 1865, he published his Horn School, which for many years was one of the best and most widely used manuals for that instrument. In September, 1866, he was elected professor of music theory and French horn at the Geneva Conservatory, a position that he held until shortly before his death.

For many years, Kling was bandmaster of the Landwehr Military Band and conducted the Kursaal Orchestra of Geneva, as well as the orchestra in Evan-les-Bains. He also was assistant conductor of the Municipal Orchestra of Geneva with Hugo de Senger. Kling was an organist in Cologne, France, for 37 years. In 1897, he became a professor of music at the Municipal Girl's School in Geneva.

Kling's three books, Popular Orchestration and Instrumentation, A Popular Treatise on Composition, and The Complete Musical Director, saw wide use and were translated into French, German, and English. He also published Recueil de Chanes pour la Jeunesse, which was used in the Geneva schools beginning in 1882. That two-volume work, along with many of his other choral works, contributed significantly to the growth and development of choral singing in both Switzerland and France.

In France, Kling was well known as an adjudicator at military and brass band contests. His works include four operas, one symphony, four overtures, and numerous shorter works for band and orchestra that were very popular both in England and the United States. He is best known in the United States is his piccolo-tuba duet, The Elephant And The Fly.


Works for Winds


Resources