Works With Harp: Talitman(Hp)Ofer(Vn)Fregnani-martins(Fl)Xuereb(Va)Etc

Born in Brest in 1879, as a son of Chief Medical Officer in the French Navy, Jean Emile Paul Cras was immersed in music since early childhood, as his was a family of music lovers, who developed in him throughout his adolescence a taste for beauty in musical works. A gifted and inspired musician, he began composing at the age of thirteen. In 1892, he wrote short pieces for voice and piano and, two years later, he wrote a Mass for four voices with organ, which he conducted at the old church of Saint-Marc, near Brest. While pursuing a military career, Jean Cras did not abandon music. He embarked his upright piano on each vessel on which he served, thus allowing him to indulge in his two passions: sea and music. A real artistic feat!. He developed a close friendship with Henri Duparc, composer Cesar Franck's disciple, who devoted daily sessions for instruction on the rules and techniques of composition, while developing his taste for reading great works. His real consecration as a composer was reached when his opera Polyphme was crowned by the city of Paris in 1921 and then shown at the city's Opera Comique in December 1927. In 1922 he composed the Suite, a duet for flute and harp, inspired by the balafon, a West African percussion instrument, which ends with a dance in eleven tempi. In 1928, on board the 'Provence', he composed a beautiful Quintet for harp, flute, violin, viola and cello inspired by the sea, with harp arpeggios reminiscent of sea waves, while the flute's caressing melodies are sustained by strings' harmonies which are found in French music of the late nineteenth century. His Imprompti for solo harp, also inspired by the sea, recall the music of Debussy as well as distant voyages to the East, evoking a color palette of sounds such as those found in impressionist painters of this period. Besides a talented composer, Jean Cras also was a professor of Naval Architecture and a recognized scholar. He invented a practical rule that bears his name, the 'Cras' rule, which allows to navigate and trace routes under the stars' guidance and to establish location by relying on the light on the bridge. The rule is still used today by the navy and the air force. His talents as an excellent sailor rose him to the rank of Rear Admiral and then Major General of the port of Brest in 1932. While a continued successful career was awaiting, sudden death on that year, at his home port of all time, Brest, interrupted it.