Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947) today is primarily remembered as a composer of the operetta Ciboulette, but he did devote a fair amount of attention to composing chamber music. Born in Venezuela, Hahn’s family moved to Paris when he was three. He studied at the Conservatory under Massenet, who considered him a genius. Handsome and worldly, Hahn drew his friends from a much wider circle than other musicians, for example Marcel Proust and Sarah Bernhardt, and was greatly interested in the literary scene as well as the theater. Having a gifted voice and being an excellent pianist, Hahn needed no assistant for a vocal concert evening. He was also a deft conductor who eventually directed the Paris Opera. Hahn did not have a very high opinion of string quartets, writing: “Chamber music in the form of a simple string quartet is fundamentally incomplete; such a combination makes versatility out of the question; each part is a layer. Supposing that one of those parts briefly takes the lead, the result will never be any more than an accompanied solo; if two parts break free, it will be an accompanied duo, if three do so, there will not be enough basses, and if all four move at once, you end up with instability.” Given this viewpoint, you would not think he would write a quartet, yet in the Autumn of 1939, he took up the challenge and wrote two.
His Piano Quartet in G Major was completed in 1944 in Monte Carlo, where he fled to avoid the Nazis when they occupied France. (Hahn was a half Jew). The work was dedicated to one Madame Zerline Andre Rochard. It is in four movements and opens with a graceful Allegro moderato, but as the movement develops, the music becomes more passionate. The second movement, Allegro assai, serves as a somewhat downcast scherzo or perhaps intermezzo. This is followed by a melancholic Andante. The finale, Allegro assai, conveys a sense of nostalgia, perhaps as a doff of his cap to his deceased friend Marcel Proust, the author of Remembrance of Things Past.
Autumnal, but very beautiful, this piano quartet will make an indelible impression upon concert audiences who get to hear it. And it can be handled by amateurs experienced with playing 20th-century French tonal music.
