Wally Karveno

Wally Karveno was born as Wally Karla Loewenthal on 14 October 1914 in Berlin (Germany). She grew up in a bilingual family environment and spent part of her childhood in Berlin before moving with her family to Bern, where her father had accepted an academic position. During her school years she developed an early musical aptitude and learned to play the piano; at the age of thirteen she appeared publicly as a soloist performing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto. After the death of her father and because of a physical impairment affecting both arms, she temporarily withdrew from a career as a piano soloist and returned to Berlin, where she became active in the theatre. During the 1931/32 season she was the youngest member of the ensemble of the Prussian State Theatre at the Gendarmenmarkt and later worked at the Stadttheater Bern, also serving as a répétiteur.
In 1933 Wally Loewenthal moved to Paris where she continued her artistic work and took over the stage name of Wally Karveno in 1936. In that time she had returned to her career as a pianist and also made her first steps as a composer. 
At the beginning of the Second World War she was arrested in Limoges under suspicion of espionage and later interned together with members of her family in the Camp de Gurs in southern France. After her release she lived in Limoges until the end of the war, working as an organist and piano teacher. Following the war she obtained French citizenship, settled in Paris and married Bernard Paquin. In the following decades she worked as a pianist, composer, and piano teacher. She also wrote poetry and prose and collaborated on projects combining music and literature.
For her activities in French cultural life she received the Ordre des Palmes Académiques and the Ordre national du Mérite.
Her compositional catalogue consists primarily of piano works, vocal music, and chamber compositions, including pieces such as "Passacaille graduee en 18 parties", "La robe de lune", a Violin sonata, stage music, song settings, and the Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra composed during wartime internment; additional works include music for theatrical productions and film, among them contributions to the film "The Illegals" (1947).
Wally Karveno died on 15 July 2015 in Paris (France).

Wally Karveno Archive


In my possession are several autograph manuscripts of songs by Wally Karveno. I have no information about the provenience of this collection, but curiously only songs for voice and piano are part of my archive. That is notable because Wally Karveno also composed works for piano or other chamber music. The whereabouts of these manuscripts are unknown to me.

Most of the manuscripts are stamped with a registration note from the SACEM and so can be dated precisely. Therefore I would like to present the works in chronological order:


before 1933:

  • [untitled, beginning with: "Ja, du hast mir nie etwas versprochen"], copy on Gevaert paper and the only song in German, so very likely from the time before Wally Karveno moved to Paris.


1936:

  • Je vous ai dit dans mon delire (text by Paul-Louis Hervier)
  • Pleure, cela console (Paul-Louis Hervier)
  • Sombre Decembre (Paul-Louis Hervier)
  • Si tu le veux (Paul-Louis Hervier, previously titled: Si tu voulais)
  • La connaissez-vous deja? (Paul-Louis Hervier)
  • Les masques fantasques (Paul-Louis Hervier and Michel de la Pierre)
  • Oh! Ma petite Colomba (Paul-Louis Hervier)
  • Je deviendrais moins sombre (Jean Hesse)
  • Je peur de vous (Paul-Louis Hervier)


1953:

  • C’etait un intellectuel (Rene Huet)
  • L’histoire d’Ivan (Rene Huet, previous title: L’histoire du vent)


1954:

  • Ca me font des frissons partont (Pierre Chaulaine)
  • Sous la caresse de les yeux (Pierre Chaulaine)
  • Les remplacants (Genevieve Granger and Marc de la Roche)
  • Monsieur la romance (Rene Huet)
  • Parisienne mienne (Brice Hilaire)
  • Quand j’entends un accordeon (Rene Huet)


1956:

  • Le banc de pierre (Jacky Malcourt)
  • Calendrier de mon coeur (Jacky Malcourt)
  • La rentree (Jacky Malcourt)
  • Les gosses de mon quartier (Jacky Malcourt)
  • Les amoureux des bords de la Seine (Jacky Malcourt)
  • Dansons la capucine (Jacky Malcourt)


unknown date:

  • La belle qui m’attend (?)
  • Berceuse pour Irene (Christiane Imbert)
  • Chanson en forme de Blues (Christiane Imbert)
  • Il faut si peu (Christiane Imbert)
  • Valse lente (Tatiana Imbert)
  • [untitled, beginning with: J’n'avais pas de cheveux de lune, doré par le souffle des vents]


In addition the archive contains around 20 typewritten poems by the authors mentioned above, but without any musical setting by Wally Karveno. Maybe these poems were never set to music or the compositions are lost.

Karveno_MundAnMund.pdf Karveno_JeVousAiDit.pdf