Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn was born on 9 August 1874 in Caracas (Venezuela), but the family moved to Paris (France) when he was 3 years old. Reynaldo Hahn was a child prodigy, performed at the piano in front of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte at the age of 6 and enrolled at the Paris conservatory in 1885 at the age of 11. He studied piano (under Emile Decombes), harmony (under Albert Lavignac and Théodore Dubois) and composition (under Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet). Reynaldo Hahn already composed during his early days and his song "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" - composed at the age of 13 - became a huge success in France. The renowned French newspaper "Le Figaro" published the score in an issue dedicating half a page to the work! Further songs followed and established his reputation as an up-and-coming lied composer. At the age of 17 Reynaldo Hahn completes his first opera "L'Ile du reve" which was premiered seven years later at the Opera Comique in Paris.
Beside his first successful steps as a composer Reynaldo Hahn also made his mark as a performer: He sang his own songs and accompanied himself at the piano. At one of these concerts in 1894 the renowned novelist Marcel Proust saw and listened to Reynaldo Hahn. The two became acquainted with each other and shortly afterwards fell in love with each other. The love attachment only lasted two years, but is one of the most famous facts about the life of Reynaldo Hahn.
But the composer Reynaldo Hahn also started his own successful career. In the years until World War I he completed several operas, operettas, ballets, stage music and songs and became one of most popular and distinguished composers of Paris and the Belle Epoque. In 1912 Reynaldo Hahn became a naturalised Frenchman and fought for France in World War I. After the war he continued to compose, but also worked as a conductor, singing teacher at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Paris and critic for Excelsior, Journal illustré quotidien and later Le Figaro. While his early output had an emphasis on vocal and stage music, Reynaldo Hahn focused since the 1920s more and more on orchestral and chamber music. When the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, Hahn left for the south of France and then for neutral Monaco. He returned to Paris in 1945 but suffered from a brain tumor some time later and died on 28 January 1947 in Paris (France).
1) Reverie sentimentale (Impressions No.8)
In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the work "Reverie sentimentale pour piano" by Reynaldo Hahn. The work was composed in 1890, when Reynaldo Hahn was only 16 years old and is the 8th part of "Les Impressions", a collection of small piano pieces. As far as I know only the numbers 1 to 3 are known today, so with the existance of my No.8 some pieces in between should exist but are still lost. The manuscript has the owner stamp of the French pianist Armand Ferte.
2) Serenade for cello and piano
I once owned the autograph book of the French cellist Marguerite Martelet, professor and member of the Orchestre Concerts Colonne. In 1914 Reynaldo Hahn made a long entry in this book and penned down 13 bars of a Serenade for cello and piano. He added the note: "fragment of a still unfinished Serenade which I would like to dedicate to you." History showed that Reynaldo Hahn never finished the work and it seems that no other sketches of this composition have survived. Therefore I present this autograph note here for information purpose:
