Justin Elie (1 September 1883 – 2 December 1931) was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an composer and pianist. He is one of the best-known composers outside of Haiti.

Biography

Justin Elie was born in

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...

. He studied piano with Ermine Faubert from 1889 to 1894 and he joined the

Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

in 1894. In 1895, he migrated to France and enrolled at the Cours Masset, a preparatory school for the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

in Paris. He meets

Antoine François Marmontel Antoine François Marmontel (; 18 July 1816 – 16 January 1898) was a French pianist, composer, teacher and musicographer. He is mainly known today as an influential teacher at the Paris Conservatory, where he taught many musicians who became l ...

before his death in 1898. In 1901, Justin Elie was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris. He studied with

Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot (12 February 183322 October 1914) was a French pianist, teacher and composer. He was born in Paris in 1833, the son of the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and his then common-law wife, the famed soprano Maria Mali ...

for piano,

Émile Pessard Émile Louis Fortuné Pessard (29 May 1843 – 10 February 1917) was a French composer. Pessard was born and died in Paris. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won 1st prize in Harmony. In 1866 he won the Grand Prix de Rome with ...

for harmony, and

Paul Vidal Paul Antonin Vidal (16 June 1863 – 9 April 1931) was a French composer, conductor and music teacher mainly active in Paris.Charlton D. Paul Vidal. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. Life and caree ...

for the musical composition.

Return to the Americas

In 1905 he returned to Haiti, where he met his colleague Ludovic Lamothe, composer and musician like himself, with which he will play and make a tour of major cities.

Latin America

In 1909 and 1910, he toured

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and has given recitals in many of the islands Caribbean (

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, Saint Thomas) and South America (

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

). In 1916, he also recorded his own ''Dance Tropical" on

Piano roll A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note contro ...

for the Aeolian Company of New York's

Duo-Art Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of ...

system. Like Ludovic Lamothe, Justin Elie was reintroducing the

méringue Méringue (; ), also called ''méringue lente'' or ''méringue de salon'' (''slow'' or ''salon'' méringue), is a dance music and national symbol in Haiti. It is a string-based style played on the guitar, horn section, piano, and other string ...

. It became a national symbol and a form of resistance to the US occupation, the country suffered since 1915. Ludovic Lamothe drew from African roots to express the meringue, while Justin Elie instead turned to the

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

past of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

. He composed several méringues: ''Le Chant du Barde Indien et La Mort de l'Indien'' (Song of the Indian bard and The Death of the Indian). In 1920, he composed ''Méringue Populaire''. The influence of

Vodou Voodoo may refer to: Religions * West African Vodún, a religion practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodum ...

is also present in the Elie's compositions, such as in ''Cléopâtre'', poetry drama set in four arrays.

United States

On 12 September 1922, Elie left Haiti for the United States and settled in New York. He contacted the publishers of music and publish new partitions, such as ''Légende Créole'', ''Prière du soir, Invocation No. 2''; ''Ismao-o !''; ''Les Chants de la montagne No. 1''; ''Nostalgie: Les Chants de la montagne No. 2''; ''Nocturne: Les Chants de la montagne No. 3''; ''Kiskeya''. Elie's adaptations of Haitian melodies into miniatures led him to various performances in international concert venues, notably in the

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

where he performed with his duet dancer called Hasoutra in 1923. In 1925, he composed the frames of silent films, including ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (Somers), and in 1931, the generic of a New York radio show, ''The Lure of the Tropics''.

Death

Elie died suddenly of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on 3 December 1931 when he was composing ''Fantaisie Tropicale'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His body was returned to Haiti.

Notable works

*''Suite Babylon: 1. Pas des Odalisques'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition: Carl Fischer (1925) *''Suite Babylon: 2. Bayaderes'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition: Carl Fischer (1925) *''Suite Babylon: 3. La reine de la nuit'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition: Carl Fischer (1925) *''Suite Babylon: 4. Orgie'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition: Carl Fischer (1925) *''Firefly Fancies'' (orchestre). Edition: Carl Fischer (1929) *''La Nuit des andes'' (orchestre). Edition: Carl Fischer (1930) *''Isma-o!: Les chants de la montagne No. 1'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition Carl Fischer (1922) *''Melida'' (A Creole Tropical Dance) (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition Carl Fischer (1927) *''Prière du soir (L'invocation No. 2)'' (orchestre). Arrangement: C. J. Roberts. Edition Carl Fischer (1922)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elie, Justin 1883 births 1931 deaths Haitian composers Haitian pianists People from Cap-Haïtien 20th-century pianists