RARE RECORDINGS: Did You Know FRENCH COMPOSER REYNALDO HAHN MOONLIGHTED AS A CROONER? LISTEN TO THE FAMOUS MASTER OF THE MÉLODIE SING WORKS OF CHABRIER, SELF

Reynaldo Hahn seated at his piano

French maître de la mélodie Reynaldo Hahn seemed to have it all – the Venezuelan born musician (he would become a naturalised citizen of France in 1909) was born into wealth: his father, a German-Jewish inventor and successful engineer hobnobbed with the Venezuelan President Antonio Guzmán Blanco, and his mother, a wealthy descendant of Basque colonists,  set up house in Caracas with Reynaldo’s 11 siblings, where they would live in the lap of luxury until political unrest during the first term of Blanco’s rule forced Hahn’s father to retire, and the family to vacate Venezuela for France.

The move would not be the end of Reynaldo – hardly – it would mark the beginning of a glorious career in the arts. 

Mesmerized by Parisian high society and it’s abundant venues and opputunities for the arts, a young Reynaldo (he was only three when the family left Caracas for Paris) took up lessons on the piano whilst simultaneously perfecting his still-immature voice, accompanying himself on the instrument with the arias of Jacques Offenbach. 

The budding musician’s tenacity paid off most amiably: he would make his début at the private salon of a Napoleon: one Princess Mathilde, the famous Emperor’s niece. Here, Hahn would henceforth be declared a child prodigy – a moniker the lad would later prove was most well earned: by the age of eight, young Reynaldo included his own songs into his singing and performing repertoire, when he decided to branch out into the realm of composing. 

He had officially entered polymath status, stunning perhaps no one at all when he effortlessly gained admission into the notoriously discriminating Paris Conservatoire – an elite and much sought-after musical institution known to take umbrage with child prodigy applicants (the Conservatoire board had famously rejected a young Franz Liszt just years before Hahn carved out for himself a spot among the institute’s student body). There, he would learn from the best France had to offer: Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod and Camille Saint-Saëns all served as tutors to the young wunderkind. He would make the acquaintance of one Maurice Ravel whilst at rehearsal, and by 1888 would gather up enough gumption to submit to the daily morning paper Le Figaro a composition he penned after a poem by writer Victor Hugo. It was a charming number called "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" (If my verses had wings) from Hugo’s Mes vers fuiraient, doux et frêles (1856), and would catapult the young star into Paris’s thriving artistic sector. Singers, authors and poets alike flocked to hear Reynaldo perform – perhaps most famously the French poet Paul Verlaine, who reportedly "wept to hear Hahn's songs" after attending a performance of the young composer’s setting of his poems (which Hahn had complied into the cycle “Chansons grises” in 1889). Leading music critic Stéphane Mallarmé was also present that day, and was so moved, he composed a stanza in honor of Reynaldo’s prowess:

Le pleur qui chante au langage
Du poète, Reynaldo
Hahn, tendrement le dégage
Comme en l'allée un jet d'eau

A life of impressive productivity would follow for Hahn, including a stint in the French Army (where he made the rank of corporal) and a successful bout as a music critic. Reynaldo would become so esteemed by the end of his highly decorated life, he even earned the trust of Geneviève Halévy, widow of French composer Georges Bizet, who gifted the musician with her late husband’s hitherto unperformed Symphony in C which Hahn later turned over to the Conservatoire – a generous and precious gift of thanks for the years of education spent there as a youth.

A man of many hats, Hahn would close out his remaining years as Director of the Paris Opéra until his death in 1947.

One thing remained certain, however – no matter how much success surrounded this illustrious icon (and it was plenty), Hahn never considered himself too big for his britches: he would continue, even in adulthood, to stick to his roots, accompanying himself on the piano – singing and performing his own work (and the works of those he admired), just as he had when he was a child - entirely unabashed by his less than operatic voice (in true Hahn fashion, it was still rather impressive).

Some 64 recordings of Reynaldo Hahn singing and playing the piano survive – a discography is available Department of Special Research Collections at the UC Santa Barbara Library, catalogued under the William R. Moran collection (much of which can be found on the album “Reynaldo Hahn Complete Recordings” available on amazon).

The recordings date from 1901-1934.

Listen below to Hahn perform the works of Emanuel Chabrier ("Toutes les fleurs," "Les Cigales," "L'ile heureuse") and his own "Offrande," and "Venezia - Chè pecà:"
 


- Rose.

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