I hope to take this article to FAC, with the aim of adding to the number of French composers with featured articles. Comments and suggestions for improving the article will be most welcome, both as to content and to prose. Tim riley talk13:16, 23 May 2022 (UTC)reply
The prose in the first paragraph of this section does not flow well. There are too many asides, and complex sentence structures that it makes for awkward reading. There needs to be some smoothing out of the language.
It would be better to name Michael Quinn, former Deputy Editor Gramophone UK, in the attributed quote. The sentence "It was France that, as a 21st-century writer put it, would "determine and define Hahn's musical identity in later life"." is both vague and awkward to my ears
"As a young man Massenet had won France's top musical scholarship, the Prix de Rome,[9] but Hahn could not emulate him: only French nationals were eligible, and the Hahns had not taken French citizenship. Besides, Massenet counselled (spelling error), with rich parents Hahn did not need the scholarship as his less affluent colleagues did." (this seems rather trivial; not sure it's worth including, and the last sentence does not sound encyclopedic in tone)
There should probably be some sort of mention of "‘L'heure exquise" from Chansons grises as it is the best known song from the song cycle; and has remained in the repertoire whereas the others have become obscure. This could be done in this section, or alternatively in the Mélodies section further down. One possible way to do this would be to mention his tour to Britain with
Victor Maurel in 1898 where this piece became his most celebrated work in that nation. See Paul J Rodmell (2020).
French Music in Britain 1830–1914.
Taylor & Francis.
ISBN9781000281521.
Likewise, "D'une prison" (1892) is another well known/ frequently performed piece from this period. Again, addressing this work could be done either in this section or further down in the Mélodies section.
1896 to 1913
This section is well done. You might consider adding a few more details from this period from Grove which I have bulleted below.
Hahn was music critic for La flèche (beginning 1904)
Hahn organized a Mozart Festival in Paris. (possibly the invitation to conduct Giovanni in Salzburg was given because of this prior work?; you might dig for more sources on this festival to see if the two are connected);
Update.
this source has more related info on the Don Giovanni with ties to Hahn and
Lilli Lehmann but no mention of the Paris Mozart Festival
There should be some sort of mention of his 53 short piano pieces in his work Le rossignol éperdu, described in Grove as "his most extensive work from this period". I know that it is briefly mentioned in the works section, but as his most extensive work from this period it seems oddly absent from this section.
Outside of Grove, I would definitely include a discussion of "A Chloris" (1913). It is identified as Hahn's most performed work of all his compositions in Barry Jones, ed. (2021). "Hahn, Reynaldo".
Dictionary of World Biography.
ANU Press. p. 385.
1914 to 1929
Perfect as is. No content missing, well referenced, and the prose reads well.
Update: There probably should be a better description of Du chant which was never intended to be a book. The book is a publication of a series of university lectures given by Hahn in 1913-1914. It has been republished in multiple languages and under different names; most recently in English as On Singers and Singing (1990, Amadeus Press).
1930 to 1947
The fact that his music was banned by the Nazis should be included in the article. (see Grove)
His conducting of a celebrated revival of Joseph at the
Paris Opera should be included (see Grove)
Missing content with uncertain placement
One point from Grove that should be made somewhere (not sure where) is Hahn's work as a vocalist and how that impacted his work as a composer. Grove states, "Hahn's own voice, a light baritone, was put to good use throughout his career; he accompanied himself in his own songs, and in opera arias and popular songs of the day."
Hahn had a close relationship with
Méry Laurent that should probably be mentioned. Here is a source which discusses the relationship, but it is rather vague on dates. There are probably better refs out there. Gilles Néret (2003).
Manet. Taschen. p. 69.
You might consider adding some sort of legacy section. It could include work inspired by Hahn or dedicated to Hahn. For example, below I listed a play about Hahn and Proust. Another example, the artist
Paul Cadmus made a painting Le Ruban Denoue: Hommage a Reynaldo Hahn which is part of the collection at the
Columbus Museum of Art (see
[1] and
[2]) I am not sure what all would turn up if you went digging.
Works
In general, the entire section is well done with the exception of the pieces I have highlighted above which should be discussed in more detail. Where and how you choose to address those works (whether in the biographical section or the works section) is up to your creative discretion. Otherwise, I cannot find anything specific to comment on.
Additional sources
These are optional additional materials which you may choose to include.
John Palmer (2005). "Reynaldo Hahn". In Allen Schrott, Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan (ed.).
All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music. Backbeat Books. p. 541.
ISBN9780879308650.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (
link); this has some nice quotable critical assessment of Hahn that could be used and also has some cogent quotes by Hahn himself which could be used. Has applications in multiple sections of this article at your discretion.
François Le Roux; Romain Raynaldy (2021). Le Chant Intime: The Interpretation of French Mélodie.
Oxford University Press.
ISBN9780197552285.; this book has some more in-depth music analysis of Hahn's songs if you can get a hold of a copy. Unfortunately, google books does not have the relevant pages available for viewing.
Laurence A. Rickels,
Ulrike Ottinger (2008).
Ulrike Ottinger: The Autobiography of Art Cinema. p. 97. There is an interesting quote from Ottinger here which groups Hahn’s aesthetic with other contemporaries like Proust and Oscar Wilde as men that were groundbreaking in that they dared to manifest feminine qualities in their art. There may be some other queer/gender studies scholarship on Hahn that explores this further.
Philippe Blay (2021).
Reynaldo Hahn.
Fayard.
ISBN9782213684338.; this is a French language biography of Hahn; parts of it are available to read on google books (only 69 of the 712 pages) if you read French; obviously this is going to be a very detailed biographical account of Hahn’s life and music beyond what is currently in the article. I do not read French so I can’t comment as to how this might specifically improve this article.
Philippe Blay, Jean- Christophe Branger, Lus Fraisse (2018). Marcel Proust et Reynaldo Hahn: une cr ́eation a` quatre mains. Classiques Garnier.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link), a French language book of 229 pages in length co-authored by Hahn scholars/musicologists Philippe Blay & Jean- Christophe Branger (cited as the leading scholars on Hahn in the book review of this work in the journal French Studies by Rushworth, Jennifer) and Proust Scholar Luc Fraisse. There is a great deal of attention given to Hahn as a writer in this book in addition to his work as a composer. If you read French, this would be a good one to get a copy of. If not, maybe read the English language book review (as I did). See French Studies, 2018-10-01, Vol.72 (4), p.623-624
Hubbell, Mary (2019). Early Twentieth Century Vocal Performance Practice and the French School: An Exploration of the Lectures and Selected Songs by Reynaldo Hahn (Thesis).
City University of New York.; if you have access to dissertations on proquest this one has a detailed analysis of five of Hahn's university lectures. Very useful for writing on his work as a voice teacher and on his philosophical approach to vocal music as a singer and composer. Also helpful is the literature review on Hahn. There's a lot here.
Jeffrey Mehlman (May 2000). "Un Amour de Hahn: Of Literature and Life". Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.
doi:
10.2307/463454. While focusing initially on Hahn's relationship to Proust, this article gives a rather lengthy and detailed account of his relationship with
Méry Laurent (who left a considerable fortune to Hahn in her will) making up roughly half of the article. Also has some stories about Hahn's encounters with other French luminaries like
Pauline Viardot. Worth reading and citing. After reading this, a paragraph or entire section on the Laurent Hahn relationship is waranted.
Henry Pleasants (Spring 1994). "Book Review: On Singers and Singing Reynaldo Hahn Translated by Léopold Simoneau Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1990 244 pages, $22.95". The Opera Quarterly. 10 (3): 166–169.
doi:
10.1093/oq/10.3.166. Gives a history of the various publications of On Singers and Singing; commentary on the lectures themselves, and lots of content on Hahn as a vocalist that I have not found elsewhere; including a useful complete discography of the 64 extent recordings of Hahn singing by William R. Moran.
Many thanks for these excellent and splendidly thorough contributions, which I shall enjoy working through over the next few days, Tim riley talk20:49, 25 May 2022 (UTC)reply
I wonder about headers which are just years. Could they perhaps come with some key words. In the last FAC for
a composer, I thought there was to much in them, but a little something would perhaps help us readers new to the man.
"Mélodies" and "Operas, opérettes and musical comedies" are nowns, "Orchestral and concertante" are adjectives, "Chamber and solo piano" makes probably no sense to readers who are unfamiliar with classical music's "chamber music". I'd add "music" to the latter two.
The sources are finely divided, but I believe that could be handled by headers rather than subsections.
I had forgotten
Catulle Mendès, - yes, I saw then that he was a librettist, mentioned before, but at the point I wondered why no link. I believe that the rule to link only once is too rigid in longer articles.
Chamber ...
Consistency: reading "the Violin Sonata", I'd expect "Sonatine", and perhaps also "Ten Waltzes" ("10 Waltzes"?) and Two Etudes ("2 Etudes").
I am surprised how few articles we have on his music, and those we have are nothing special. Do you have material for the Piano Concerto, and song collections, for example? --
Gerda Arendt (
talk)
21:00, 2 June 2022 (UTC)reply
Lead
Admitting that a summary of such a rich life is difficult, there are some things I miss, mostly the two works lists, Massenet and a few more work titles, because a list of practically all genres doesn't distinguish him. --
Gerda Arendt (
talk)
20:51, 3 June 2022 (UTC)reply
Closing PR
My thanks for the above suggestions. Some splendidly useful points there. Now that the British Library is pretty much fully open after the pandemic lock-downs I can pop down and consult the sources as and when time permits. I'll return to the article soon, I hope, and perhaps think further about FAC. Meanwhile, any further pointers or suggestions will be most welcome on the article talk page. Tim riley talk19:10, 10 June 2022 (UTC)reply
I hope to take this article to FAC, with the aim of adding to the number of French composers with featured articles. Comments and suggestions for improving the article will be most welcome, both as to content and to prose. Tim riley talk13:16, 23 May 2022 (UTC)reply
The prose in the first paragraph of this section does not flow well. There are too many asides, and complex sentence structures that it makes for awkward reading. There needs to be some smoothing out of the language.
It would be better to name Michael Quinn, former Deputy Editor Gramophone UK, in the attributed quote. The sentence "It was France that, as a 21st-century writer put it, would "determine and define Hahn's musical identity in later life"." is both vague and awkward to my ears
"As a young man Massenet had won France's top musical scholarship, the Prix de Rome,[9] but Hahn could not emulate him: only French nationals were eligible, and the Hahns had not taken French citizenship. Besides, Massenet counselled (spelling error), with rich parents Hahn did not need the scholarship as his less affluent colleagues did." (this seems rather trivial; not sure it's worth including, and the last sentence does not sound encyclopedic in tone)
There should probably be some sort of mention of "‘L'heure exquise" from Chansons grises as it is the best known song from the song cycle; and has remained in the repertoire whereas the others have become obscure. This could be done in this section, or alternatively in the Mélodies section further down. One possible way to do this would be to mention his tour to Britain with
Victor Maurel in 1898 where this piece became his most celebrated work in that nation. See Paul J Rodmell (2020).
French Music in Britain 1830–1914.
Taylor & Francis.
ISBN9781000281521.
Likewise, "D'une prison" (1892) is another well known/ frequently performed piece from this period. Again, addressing this work could be done either in this section or further down in the Mélodies section.
1896 to 1913
This section is well done. You might consider adding a few more details from this period from Grove which I have bulleted below.
Hahn was music critic for La flèche (beginning 1904)
Hahn organized a Mozart Festival in Paris. (possibly the invitation to conduct Giovanni in Salzburg was given because of this prior work?; you might dig for more sources on this festival to see if the two are connected);
Update.
this source has more related info on the Don Giovanni with ties to Hahn and
Lilli Lehmann but no mention of the Paris Mozart Festival
There should be some sort of mention of his 53 short piano pieces in his work Le rossignol éperdu, described in Grove as "his most extensive work from this period". I know that it is briefly mentioned in the works section, but as his most extensive work from this period it seems oddly absent from this section.
Outside of Grove, I would definitely include a discussion of "A Chloris" (1913). It is identified as Hahn's most performed work of all his compositions in Barry Jones, ed. (2021). "Hahn, Reynaldo".
Dictionary of World Biography.
ANU Press. p. 385.
1914 to 1929
Perfect as is. No content missing, well referenced, and the prose reads well.
Update: There probably should be a better description of Du chant which was never intended to be a book. The book is a publication of a series of university lectures given by Hahn in 1913-1914. It has been republished in multiple languages and under different names; most recently in English as On Singers and Singing (1990, Amadeus Press).
1930 to 1947
The fact that his music was banned by the Nazis should be included in the article. (see Grove)
His conducting of a celebrated revival of Joseph at the
Paris Opera should be included (see Grove)
Missing content with uncertain placement
One point from Grove that should be made somewhere (not sure where) is Hahn's work as a vocalist and how that impacted his work as a composer. Grove states, "Hahn's own voice, a light baritone, was put to good use throughout his career; he accompanied himself in his own songs, and in opera arias and popular songs of the day."
Hahn had a close relationship with
Méry Laurent that should probably be mentioned. Here is a source which discusses the relationship, but it is rather vague on dates. There are probably better refs out there. Gilles Néret (2003).
Manet. Taschen. p. 69.
You might consider adding some sort of legacy section. It could include work inspired by Hahn or dedicated to Hahn. For example, below I listed a play about Hahn and Proust. Another example, the artist
Paul Cadmus made a painting Le Ruban Denoue: Hommage a Reynaldo Hahn which is part of the collection at the
Columbus Museum of Art (see
[1] and
[2]) I am not sure what all would turn up if you went digging.
Works
In general, the entire section is well done with the exception of the pieces I have highlighted above which should be discussed in more detail. Where and how you choose to address those works (whether in the biographical section or the works section) is up to your creative discretion. Otherwise, I cannot find anything specific to comment on.
Additional sources
These are optional additional materials which you may choose to include.
John Palmer (2005). "Reynaldo Hahn". In Allen Schrott, Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan (ed.).
All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music. Backbeat Books. p. 541.
ISBN9780879308650.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (
link); this has some nice quotable critical assessment of Hahn that could be used and also has some cogent quotes by Hahn himself which could be used. Has applications in multiple sections of this article at your discretion.
François Le Roux; Romain Raynaldy (2021). Le Chant Intime: The Interpretation of French Mélodie.
Oxford University Press.
ISBN9780197552285.; this book has some more in-depth music analysis of Hahn's songs if you can get a hold of a copy. Unfortunately, google books does not have the relevant pages available for viewing.
Laurence A. Rickels,
Ulrike Ottinger (2008).
Ulrike Ottinger: The Autobiography of Art Cinema. p. 97. There is an interesting quote from Ottinger here which groups Hahn’s aesthetic with other contemporaries like Proust and Oscar Wilde as men that were groundbreaking in that they dared to manifest feminine qualities in their art. There may be some other queer/gender studies scholarship on Hahn that explores this further.
Philippe Blay (2021).
Reynaldo Hahn.
Fayard.
ISBN9782213684338.; this is a French language biography of Hahn; parts of it are available to read on google books (only 69 of the 712 pages) if you read French; obviously this is going to be a very detailed biographical account of Hahn’s life and music beyond what is currently in the article. I do not read French so I can’t comment as to how this might specifically improve this article.
Philippe Blay, Jean- Christophe Branger, Lus Fraisse (2018). Marcel Proust et Reynaldo Hahn: une cr ́eation a` quatre mains. Classiques Garnier.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link), a French language book of 229 pages in length co-authored by Hahn scholars/musicologists Philippe Blay & Jean- Christophe Branger (cited as the leading scholars on Hahn in the book review of this work in the journal French Studies by Rushworth, Jennifer) and Proust Scholar Luc Fraisse. There is a great deal of attention given to Hahn as a writer in this book in addition to his work as a composer. If you read French, this would be a good one to get a copy of. If not, maybe read the English language book review (as I did). See French Studies, 2018-10-01, Vol.72 (4), p.623-624
Hubbell, Mary (2019). Early Twentieth Century Vocal Performance Practice and the French School: An Exploration of the Lectures and Selected Songs by Reynaldo Hahn (Thesis).
City University of New York.; if you have access to dissertations on proquest this one has a detailed analysis of five of Hahn's university lectures. Very useful for writing on his work as a voice teacher and on his philosophical approach to vocal music as a singer and composer. Also helpful is the literature review on Hahn. There's a lot here.
Jeffrey Mehlman (May 2000). "Un Amour de Hahn: Of Literature and Life". Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.
doi:
10.2307/463454. While focusing initially on Hahn's relationship to Proust, this article gives a rather lengthy and detailed account of his relationship with
Méry Laurent (who left a considerable fortune to Hahn in her will) making up roughly half of the article. Also has some stories about Hahn's encounters with other French luminaries like
Pauline Viardot. Worth reading and citing. After reading this, a paragraph or entire section on the Laurent Hahn relationship is waranted.
Henry Pleasants (Spring 1994). "Book Review: On Singers and Singing Reynaldo Hahn Translated by Léopold Simoneau Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1990 244 pages, $22.95". The Opera Quarterly. 10 (3): 166–169.
doi:
10.1093/oq/10.3.166. Gives a history of the various publications of On Singers and Singing; commentary on the lectures themselves, and lots of content on Hahn as a vocalist that I have not found elsewhere; including a useful complete discography of the 64 extent recordings of Hahn singing by William R. Moran.
Many thanks for these excellent and splendidly thorough contributions, which I shall enjoy working through over the next few days, Tim riley talk20:49, 25 May 2022 (UTC)reply
I wonder about headers which are just years. Could they perhaps come with some key words. In the last FAC for
a composer, I thought there was to much in them, but a little something would perhaps help us readers new to the man.
"Mélodies" and "Operas, opérettes and musical comedies" are nowns, "Orchestral and concertante" are adjectives, "Chamber and solo piano" makes probably no sense to readers who are unfamiliar with classical music's "chamber music". I'd add "music" to the latter two.
The sources are finely divided, but I believe that could be handled by headers rather than subsections.
I had forgotten
Catulle Mendès, - yes, I saw then that he was a librettist, mentioned before, but at the point I wondered why no link. I believe that the rule to link only once is too rigid in longer articles.
Chamber ...
Consistency: reading "the Violin Sonata", I'd expect "Sonatine", and perhaps also "Ten Waltzes" ("10 Waltzes"?) and Two Etudes ("2 Etudes").
I am surprised how few articles we have on his music, and those we have are nothing special. Do you have material for the Piano Concerto, and song collections, for example? --
Gerda Arendt (
talk)
21:00, 2 June 2022 (UTC)reply
Lead
Admitting that a summary of such a rich life is difficult, there are some things I miss, mostly the two works lists, Massenet and a few more work titles, because a list of practically all genres doesn't distinguish him. --
Gerda Arendt (
talk)
20:51, 3 June 2022 (UTC)reply
Closing PR
My thanks for the above suggestions. Some splendidly useful points there. Now that the British Library is pretty much fully open after the pandemic lock-downs I can pop down and consult the sources as and when time permits. I'll return to the article soon, I hope, and perhaps think further about FAC. Meanwhile, any further pointers or suggestions will be most welcome on the article talk page. Tim riley talk19:10, 10 June 2022 (UTC)reply