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First name: Reynaldo
Last name: Hahn
Dates: 1974-1947
Category: Quartet
Nationality: French
Opus name: Quatuor No. 3 in G (1916)
Publisher:
Peculiarities: to buy Ump: http://www.ump.co.uk/PDF/Chamber_Music_Catalogue_2011.pdf
Information: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Reynaldo Hahn (August 9, 1874 - January 28, 1947) was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the melodie. The fine craftsmanship, remarkable beauty, and originality of his works capture the insouciance of la belle Epoque. Reynaldo Hahn was born in Caracas, Venezuela, the youngest of twelve children. Reynaldo's father Carlos was an affluent engineer, inventor, and businessman of German-Jewish extraction; his mother, Elena Mari­a de Echenagucia, was a Venezuelan of Spanish, (Basque) origin, as most wealthy families descending from Spanish colonist in that country. The increasingly volatile political atmosphere in South America during the 1870s caused his father to retire and leave Venezuela. Hahn's family moved to Paris when he was three years old. Although he showed interest in his native music of Caracas in his youth, France would "determine and define Hahn's musical identity in later life". The city and its cultural resources: the Paris Opéra, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Opera-Comique, in addition to the nexus of artists and writers, proved an ideal setting for the precocious Hahn. A child prodigy, Reynaldo made his debut at the salon of the eccentric Princess Mathilde (Napoleon's niece)., accompanying himself on the piano as he sang arias by Jacques Offenbach. At the age of eight, Hahn composed his first songs. Despite the Paris Conservatoire's tradition of antipathy towards child prodigies Franz Liszt had famously been rebuffed by the school many years before Hahn entered the school at the age of ten. His teachers included Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod, Camille Saint-Saens and Emile Descombes. Alfred Cortot and Maurice Ravel were fellow students. In 1888 Reynaldo composed "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" to a poem by Victor Hugo; it was an instant success when published by Le Figaro. From this exposure and publicity, Hahn came into contact with many leading artists in Paris (in addition to the relationships he cultivated at the Conservatoire). By the age of nineteen in 1894, Hahn had written many songs about love; however, his worldly sophistication masked shyness about his own personal feelings. He had close intimate friendships with women, and they were clearly fond of the gallant and charming young composer. In 1909, Hahn became a French citizen. In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for service in the French Army. He was older than the official conscription age but was accepted and served, first as a private, finally reaching the rank of corporal. While at the front he composed a song cycle based on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. Forced to leave Paris in 1940 during the Nazi occupation, he returned at the end of the war in 1945 to fulfill his appointment as director of the Paris Opera. He died in 1947 of a brain tumor.