Wikipedia:Peer review/Reynaldo Hahn/archive1

Reynaldo Hahn

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 talk 13:16, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

Comments by 4meter4

• Comment. I will give some more feedback tomorrow, but one glaring omission from the article is some content on some of his more well known songs. "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" (which is well covered already), "D'une prison" (missing), "L'heure exquise" (missing), and "A Chloris" (missing), are arguably his best known songs. They are frequently programmed and there are many recording by singers like Susan Graham, Joyce DiDonato, etc. See Carol Kimball. "Reynaldo Hahn". Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature. Hal Leonard. p. 210—212. ISBN 9781423412809. for one source that identified these particular songs as important among Hahn's output of song literature. Some more sources for some commentary on "A Chloris" would be Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, Patrick Choukroun (2001). Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney: A Guide for Study and Performance. Pendragon Press. p. 193.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) and Graham Johnson (2017). "Time travel in song: a European digression". Britten, Voice and Piano: Lectures on the Vocal Music of Benjamin Britten. Taylor & Francis. (unfortunately no page numbers in this ebook). 4meter4 (talk) 02:44, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Life and career

Early years

• 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. ISBN 9781000281521.
• 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. ISBN 9780879308650.{{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.
• Herbert E. Craig (2002). Marcel Proust and Spanish America: From Critical Response to Narrative Dialogue Their. Bucknell University Press.; while there are already several excellent references utilized for the Proust and Hahn relationship; this one has some interesting content. It discusses a 1985 play, Reynaldo, by Venezuelan writer es:Ugo Ulive about their relationship among other things.
• Hervé Lacombe (2001). The Keys to French Opera in the Nineteenth Century. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520217195.; Hahn is mentioned or discussed in multiple places in this book. I particularly like a quote from one of his lectures on singing on page 284; but you may find other useful material in here.
• François Le Roux; Romain Raynaldy (2021). Le Chant Intime: The Interpretation of French Mélodie. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197552285.; 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.
• Gerda Taranow (2015). Sarah Bernhardt: The Art Within the Legend. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400871360.; this source has some more details about Hahn's relationship with Bernhardt; that is already well covered in the article but you may find something of interest worth noting
• Eero Tarasti (2012). "10.4 Reynaldo Hahn". Semiotics of Classical Music: How Mozart, Brahms and Wagner Talk to Us. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9781614511410. Has some interesting commentary contrasting the divergent philosophies of Hahn and Proust among other material.
• Jillian C. Rogers (2021). Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars. Oxford University Press. p. 73, 171-173, 183.; has some interesting scholarship on songs Hahn wrote during World War I and their thematic ties to war/trauma
• 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.
• Patricia Tilburg (2019). Working Girls: Sex, Taste, and Reform in the Parisian Garment Trades, 1880-1919. p. 32-33. Has some interesting scholarship on Hahn’s 1910 ballet La Fête chez Thérèse and its portrayal of women
• Philippe Blay (2021). Reynaldo Hahn. Fayard. ISBN 9782213684338.; 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 talk 20:49, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Comments from Gerda

Thank you for improving another one to higher quality. I'll comment while reading, and skip the lead until last. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

TOC

• 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.

Early years

• Roman Catholicism is a redirect, - why not simply Catholicism?
• Can we avoid "became" twice in one sentence?
• Can we avoid just saying "Carlos"?

1896 to 1913

• I don't know if Mozart's Opera in Salzburg 1906 was sung in German or Italian, but certainly not in English.

1930 to 1947

• "The Magic Flute, The Seraglio and The Marriage of Figaro" - hardly the titles in Paris, as before.
• "appointed director of the Paris Opéra" - is anything known about his work there, or was it just a title more?

That's it for now. Good reading, thank you. - I made some minor changes but revert what you don't like. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:32, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Mélodies

• 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)

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)

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 talk 19:10, 10 June 2022 (UTC)