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 three.
His String Quartet No. 2 in F Major was composed between 1939 and 1943, with some sources citing 1946; perhaps this is the year in which it was first published. The work is structured in four movements: Animé, Très mouvementé, Posément. Très modéré, and Très vite (à un temps). Unlike his first quartet, this one is characterized by its large dimensions, in some ways recalling César Franck. It has a strong unity of purpose through an economy of means in each of the movements.
So, despite his initial feelings about string quartets, it turns out that he wrote a first-class work which would make an excellent choice for the concert hall. And, it is not beyond amateurs.
