Édouard Nanny
1872 - 1942
French
Biography
Édouard Nanny was born in Saint Germain en Laye in 1872. He studied at the Paris Conservatory (later teaching there from 1920 to 1940) and received a First Prize for the double bass in 1892. While leading a career as a solo double bass player he also played with major orchestras, such as the Concerts Lamoureux and the Opéra-Comique. Playing a three-string double bass, he founded in 1901, with Henri Casadesus, the Société de Concerts des Instruments Anciens (an early instrument concert society), the president of which was Camille Saint-Saëns, its aim being to revive works from past centuries. The society organised several international tours. A composer for his own instrument, he also wrote studies based on works by Bach and Beethoven, as well as a Complete method for the four-string and five-string double bass. In two parts, this is a fundamental work, indispensable for knowledge of the instrument: its exceptional pedagogical value means that even today it is a reference work for the teaching of the double bass. Édouard Nanny died in Paris in 1943.