Melodie - EH/PN (PDF)

Mélodie - PDF
for English horn and piano
by Clement Lenom (1865-1957) - Belgian composer and oboist

arranged by Trevor Cramer

Clement Lenom was born in Gilly, Belgium on January 6, 1865. At the age of six he began to learn music with his mother and grandfather. He earned a scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 1878, where he studied the oboe under Joseph Dupont, the chef d’orchestra of the Opera de la Mannaie.

While at Brussels, he won First Prize for oboe, First Prize for Superior Solfege, and First Prize for Harmony. In 1885 he went to the Conservatoire de Paris where he continued his training on the oboe under G. Gillet.

In 1888 Lenom became a member of the Cologne Orchestra. He also played with the Monte Carlo and Nice Orchestras and conducted in Nice, Rouen, Geneva, Biarritz, Brussels, and Aix-les-Bains. While with the Cologne Orchestra, he met Georges Longy, who came to Boston in 1900. In 1901, Longy convinced Lenom to come to America for a year-long trial period. He never moved back.

Lenom played English horn and oboe with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1901-1925. From 1913-1917 he conducted the Boston Pops Concerts and conducted the MacDowell Club Orchestra from 1926-1929. Lenom played second oboe and English horn in the famous Longy Club, which also included Andre and Daniel Maquarre, Georges Grisez, Peter Sedony, John Helleberg, and, of course, Georges Longy.

He met George W. Chadwick in 1901 when Chadwick convinced him to come to the New England Conservatory to begin a solfege school based on the French training system. He remained at NEC as the head of the Solfege department and an instructor in oboe and woodwind ensemble until 1942.

For “distinguished service to music” Lenom received the honorary award of Offic de L’Instruction Publique in 1911 from the French government and Chevalier de la Couronne from the Belgian government. His compositions include: Ballet-Divertissments; Action L’Astuce des Amants le Royaume de Diable; Musette Canzonetta; Berceuse et Rone Villageoise; Caprice-Mazurka; and Melody for English Horn. 

Clement Lenom passed away in 1957 at the age of 91. He died in his home in Brookline, MA, leaving behind his wife Mary (Bartlett) Lenom. They had been married since 1932.