[Occide Jeanty and the score from "1804", Marche Militaire, on a 1960 Haitian stamp.]
Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and has written about Black classical music for four decades. He has generously made his research entry on Occide Jeanty available to AfriClassical.com It begins with the composer's birth in 1860: "The son of Occilius Jeanty, he was born in Port-au-Prince. His musical education in his native town was at the École Polymaththique de Coupeaud, the Lycée Pétion, and L’École Centrale de la Musique (founded by his father)..." "His teachers in Paris included Arban (Jeanty’s principal instrument was the valve cornet), pianist Antoine-François Marmontel, and Douillon." "In 1885 he left Paris to become music director to President Lysius Felicité Salomen writing musique du palais in Port-au-Prince, where a street was later named for him, and a stamp issued in centennial tribute in 1960."
The classical guitarist Jean E. Saint-Eloi has recorded a CD entitled Music of the Haitian Masters, IFA Music Records 256 (1999). The music was composed for piano, but is performed on MIDI guitar. Among the works on the CD is a piece written by Occide Jeanty for solo piano, Invocation (5:00). Jean E. Saint-Eloi writes in the liner notes: "Occide Jeanty, Jr's greatest influence was found in the musique du palais (court music), especially in his military marches. Occide Jeanty elevated the musique du palais to such an extent that his music was rated first in the Caribbean and fourth in the American continent." Prof. De Lerma adds: "He was married to Lydia Robin. Their daughter, Lydia (born about 1910) was on the faculty of the Collège Louverture until her retirement in 1963, and served as Haiti’s ambassador to London for seven months in 1958." Occide Jeanty passed away in 1936.
Occide JeantyHaitian Composer
1804 Marche Militaire
Music of the Haitian Masters
Jean E. Saint-Eloi
Musique du Palais
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