Reynaldo Hahn

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Reynaldo Hahn, recording by Paul Nadar

Reynaldo Hahn (born August 9, 1874 in Caracas , Venezuela , † January 28, 1947 in Paris , France ) was a French composer .

Life

Parents were the Venezuelan of Spanish-Basque descent Elena Maria Echenagucia (1831–1912) and the Hamburg-born Jewish businessman, engineer and inventor Carlos Hahn. Reynaldo Hahn had four brothers (Hernán, Federico, Carlos, Eduardo) and five sisters (Elisa, Elena, Isabel, María, Clavita). The father, Carlos Hahn, went to Venezuela to make his fortune, and there rose to be a friend and advisor to President Antonio Guzmán Blanco . After the president's seven-year term of office was over, Carlos Hahn felt threatened by the president's opponents and moved to Paris with the entire family in 1878. The family, who live at 6 rue du Cirque ( 8th arrondissement ), soon managed to establish contacts with Parisian society. Hahn's musical talent led to entry into the Conservatoire de Paris in October 1885, where he became a composition student of Lavignac and Jules Massenet . Maurice Ravel was among his classmates . At the age of 13 he wrote the song Si mes vers avaient des ailes , which was to remain his most famous composition for contemporaries.

At the end of 1890 he made the acquaintance of the Daudet family . Hahn's song cycle Les Chansons Grises was premiered here in the presence of the poet Paul Verlaine . Hahn's cycle Les Études latines made him famous at once. Hahn sang his melodies in the elegant Parisian salons (with Princess Mathilde, the Comtesse de Guerne, Madeleine Lemaire ), accompanying himself on the piano. Here he was able to meet celebrities such as Stéphane Mallarmé and Edmond de Goncourt . At Madeleine Lemaire he met Marcel Proust in 1894 , with whom he remained connected until his death. The first two years of their acquaintance they spent in a passionate relationship, which turned into a friendship after the break in 1896.

Reynaldo Hahn (painting by Lucie Lambert , 1907)

In 1890 he wrote the incidental music for L'Obstacle by Alphonse Daudet , and in 1897 the symphonic poem Nuit d'amour bergamasque . Hahn's father died in 1897 and the family moved to 9 rue Alfred de Vigny ( 17th arrondissement ). One year later Hahn's opera L'Ile du rêve , a three-act play based on motifs by Pierre Loti, premiered . In 1902 La Carmélite appeared , which, like the previous work, was performed in the Opéra-Comique . An educational trip from Hamburg to Bucharest and from Rome to London enabled Hahn to deal more intensively with painting and literature.

This was followed by stage music for Deux Courtisanes (1902) by Francis Croisset and for Werther and Scarron . Further song cycles appeared, Chansons espagnoles , Rondels etc. and various piano pieces, Portraits de peintres , Premières Valses , Caprice mélancolique etc. Several ballet music also appeared: Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este (1907), La Fête chez Thérèse (1910), Le Dieu Bleu (1912) for the Ballets russes of Diaghilev . In 1912 he received French citizenship. In 1914 Hahn went to the front at his own request until he was seconded to the War Ministry in 1916. The war in no way interrupted his writing ( Le Ruban dénoué, pour deux pianos ).

In 1920 Hahn received a professorship for singing at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Paris, where a. a. Pablo Casals , Jacques Thibaud and Nadia Boulanger taught. During this time Hahn wrote several operettas that are still quite popular in France, such as Ciboulette (April 7, 1923), Malvina (March 1935) and musical comedies for Yvonne Printemps ( Mozart , 1925) and Arletty ( O mon bel inconnu with one Libretto by Sacha Guitry , October 1933), le Oui des jeunes filles (“drame espagnol”).

Hahn's grave in the Pere Lachaise cemetery

In addition to this broad-based music, Hahn was now also approaching a genre that he had previously neglected - chamber music . A quintet with piano appeared in 1921 and a piece for two string quartets (1939). A piano concerto was premiered in 1931. In addition to his versatile compositional activity, Hahn was also a music critic for the Excelsior. Journal illustré quotidien (1919–1921) and later with the daily newspaper Le Figaro (June 1933–1945).

Hahn had to leave Paris in 1940 because of his Jewish origins. He went first to Cannes, then to Monte-Carlo. When he returned to Paris in 1945, he became director of the Paris Opera. The assessment of Hahn's contemporary and friend, Marcel Proust, may convey some of the effect Hahn's music had on his listeners:

“… Cet‹ instrument de musique de génie ›qui s'appelle Reynaldo Hahn étreint tous les cœurs, mouille tous les yeux, dans le frisson d'admiration qu'il propage au loin et qui nous fait trembler, nous courbe tous l'un après l'autre, dans une silencieuse et solennelle ondulation des blés sous le vent. "

- Figaro, May 11, 1903

Honors

Works (selection)

Operas

  • L'Île du rêve (1898),
  • La Carmélite (1902),
  • Nausicaa (1919),
  • Colombe de Buddha (1921),
  • Le Temps d'aimer (1926),
  • Le Marchand de Venise (1935). German premiere: Stadttheater Bielefeld April 28, 2017.

Operettas / musical comedies

  • Ciboulette (1923)
  • Mozart (1925)
  • Une Revue (1925)
  • Brummel (1931)
  • O mon bel inconnu (1933)
  • Malvina (1935)

Ballets and ballet pantomimes

  • Fin d'amour (ballet pantomime) (1892),
  • Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este (1909),
  • La Fête chez Thérèse (1910),
  • Le Bois sacré (ballet pantomime) (1912),
  • Le Dieu bleu (1912),
  • Aux bosquets d'Idalie (1937).

Instrumental music

  • Romance en la majeur pour violon et piano (1901/02)
  • Sarabande et thème varié , for clarinet and piano (1903)
  • Nocture pour violon et piano (1906)
  • Le Ruban dénoué , for two pianos (1916?)
  • Quintets pour cordes et piano (1920/21)
  • Sonata pour violon et piano en ut majeur (1926)
  • Two string quartets (1939)
  • Romanesque , for flute, viola and piano
  • Piano concerto in E major, dedicated to Magda Tagliaferro
  • Quatuor avec piano
  • Premières valses pour piano
  • Concerto inachevé pour violoncelle
  • Soliloque et forlane pour alto et piano
  • Venezia for violoncello and cords
  • Caprice mélancolique , for two pianos

Song cycles and individual songs

  • Mélodies I (1895). Contains u. a .: Si mes verse avaient des ailes! , Seule , Offrande , Les Cygnes .
  • Mélodies II (1920). Contains u. a .: Quand je fus pris au pavilion , Le Printemps , Ah! Chloris .

literature

See also the references in the Riemann Musiklexikon . Furthermore:

  • Daniel Bendahán: Reynaldo Hahn. Su vida y su obra . Italgráfica, Caracas 1973.
  • Jacques Depaulis: Reynaldo Hahn . Edition Atlantica, Biarritz 2007, ISBN 978-2-8404-9484-3 .
  • Thea S. Engelson: The Melodies of Reynaldo Hahn . Dissertation, University of Iowa 2006.
  • Bernard Gavoty: Reynaldo Hahn. Le musicien de la Belle Époque . Buchet / Chastel, Paris 1976.
  • Mario Milanca Guzmán: Reynaldo Hahn, caraqueño. Contribución a la biografía caraqueña . ANH, Caracas 1989.
  • Debra L. Spurgeon: A study of the solo vocal works of Reynaldo Hahn with analysis of selected melodies . Dissertation, University of Oklahoma 1988.
  • Sylvain P. Labartette, Inventaire des mélodies imprimées de Reynaldo Hahn , mémoire de maîtrise, Sorbonne-Paris IV, 2005.
  • Sylvain P. Labartette, Les Chansons Grises, premier recueil de mélodies de Reynaldo Hahn , mémoire de master 2, Sorbonne-Paris IV, 2007
  • Sylvain P. Labartette, Les Feuilles blessées , L'Éducation musicale- Lettre d'information - no 128 janvier-février 2020

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ There is some confusion about the year of birth. IMSLP : Hahn, Reynaldo. Retrieved on May 10, 2020 (English): "For some reason, one often sees" 1875 "for his birth year. According to Musicsack, New Grove has 1875, which may be the reason! BNF however has 1874, and is presumably based on authoritative sources; Musicsack notes 5 sources that have 1874. “ - Countless encyclopedias give the date of birth as August 9, 1875 , for example: Hahn, Reynaldo . In: Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of music in eight volumes . tape 3 . Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-451-18053-7 , p. 416 . - Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea world of music - The composers . A lexicon in five volumes. Edited edition. tape 2 . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-549-07832-3 , pp. 570 . - Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht in connection with the music editors of the Bibliographical Institute (ed.): Meyers Taschenlexikon Musik in 3 volumes . tape 2 . Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-411-01995-6 , p. 53 . - Horst Seeger : Opera Lexicon . 4th edition. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-362-00014-2 , p. 286 . - Rolf Fath: Reclam's Lexicon of the Opera World in six volumes . tape 3 . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-030018-5 , pp. 194 . - Peter Jost : Hahn, Reynaldo . In: Harenberg composers lexicon . Harenberg Lexikon Verlag (sic!), Dortmund 2001, ISBN 3-611-00978-4 , p. 383-384 . - More recently there have been corrections to 1874 . Daniel Bendahán found the birth certificate, which says 1874. Daniel Bendahán: Reynaldo Hahn: su vida y su obra. Italgráfica, Caracas 1973, extended 2nd edition Monte Ávila Editores, Caracas 1992 (Spanish, quoted from French: Reynaldo Hahn and LOC). - On the other hand, the Library of Congress keeps it under the year 1875 : Library of Congress: Hahn, Reynaldo. In: LC Name Authority File (LCNAF). April 8, 2020, accessed on May 10, 2020 (English): “Sources: found: LC manual auth. Cd. (Hdg .: Hahn, Reynaldo, 1875-1947; d. Of b. Changed from 1874 to 1875 on the basis of further research) “ - The contradicting information is apparently based on contradicting official documents: 1874 in the birth certificate and the funerary inscription is opposed to 1875 in the Carte d'identité and in the military passport, as has been known since 1974 at the latest. Bernard Gavoty: Que savons-nous de Reynaldo Hahn. (mp3) Série de 5 émissions diffusées sur France-Musique en 1974 à l'occasion du 100e anniversaire de la naissance du compositeur. 1974, accessed on May 10, 2020 (French). - Philippe Blay sums up the sources and reports on a singer who Hahn knew and said he liked to make himself younger: Philippe Blay: L'Île du rêve de Reynaldo Hahn. Contribution à l'étude de l'opéra français de l'époque fin-de-siècle . Thèse pour l'obtention du titre de docteur de l'université de Tours et du prix de musicologie du CNSMDP 1999, p. 29–31 (French, reynaldo-hahn.net [PDF]). - That means 1874 .
  2. ↑ i. e. Marie-Thérèse de Ségur (1859-1933).
  3. ↑ Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947). In: www.musicologie.org. Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Melodic ridicule of eerie sweetness in FAZ of May 8, 2017, page 11.
personal data
SURNAME Hahn, Reynaldo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Caracas , Venezuela
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1947
Place of death Paris , France