''Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este'' is a seven-movement suite for chamber ensemble by

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – '' mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born in Caracas ...

, first performed in 1905 in Paris.

History

The composer

– born in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and long resident in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, though not yet, in 1905, a French national – was devoted to France, and interested in its historical culture. In his ''

mélodie A ''mélodie'' () is a form of French art song, arising in the mid-19th century. It is comparable to the German ''Lied''. A ''chanson'', by contrast, is a folk or popular French song. The literal meaning of the word in the French language is "melod ...

s'' he made several settings of words by French poets of medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

times, and sometimes composed in a style evoking their eras.O'Connor, Patric
"Hahn, Reynaldo"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001. Retrieved 29 October 2020 For ''Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este'', however, he turned to Italian history.

Beatrice d'Este Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497), was Duchess of Bari and Milan by marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "il Moro"). She was one of the most important personalities of the time and, despite her short life, she was a major playe ...

was the wife of the 15th-century Duke of Milan, Ludovico ("Il Moro") Sforza. She presided over a glittering court, which included

Donato Bramante Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance styl ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

and other leading artists. Hahn based his suite on archaic dance measures, to portray a grand ball at the ducal palace.Tchamkerten, Jacques (2015). Notes to Timpani CD 1C1231. The suite is dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, with whom Hahn had studied in the 1890s.Depaulis, Jacque
"Un compositeur français sous-estimé: Reynaldo Hahn"
''Fontes Artis Musicae'', October–December 2006, Vol. 53, No. 4, p. 286 The work was first performed privately, at the Paris house of

Madeleine Lemaire Madeleine Lemaire, ''née'' Coll (1845 – 8 April 1928), was a French painter who specialized in elegant genre works and flowers. Robert de Montesquiou said she was ''The Empress of the Roses''. She introduced Marcel Proust and Reynaldo Hahn t ...

on 12 April 1905; the piano part was played by the composer. The public premiere was at a concert at the Théâtre Nouveau given by the Société Moderne pour Instruments à Vent (Modern Society for Wind Instruments) on 21 May 1905. The work attracted more press attention when it featured in a high-society ''soirée musicale'' given by the

Princesse de Polignac Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac (8 January 186526 November 1943) was an American-born heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. She used this to fund a wide range of causes, notably a musical salon where her protégés includ ...

at her Paris town house in April 1907.

Score

The suite is in seven movements, scored for an instrumental ensemble comprising two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, one piano, two harps, timpani and percussion.Harding, James (1989). Notes to Hyperion CD CDH55167 #Entrée pour Ludovic le More. The opening, grand flourish, in

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically ...

, introduced by a harp glissando, is a dialogue between a group of four instruments and the rest of the ensemble. #Lesquercade. This movement, mainly in the key of C-flat major is a variant of a pavan. It is played by the woodwind and first horn, accompanied by arabesques on the harps and piano. #Romanesque. The outer sections feature the solo flute, with a winding melody in C major. The middle section comprises a series of contrasting modulations. #Iberienne. By contrast with the elegance of the Romanesque the Iberienne is percussive and strongly rhymical. The harps and piano introduce the movement with alternating chords, before the trumpet introduces a

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Cha ...

theme with an ambiguous beat that blurs two-time and three-time. The central section has a lyrical theme in C major. #Léda et l'oiseau. Subtitled "Intermède Léonardesque", the movement alludes to a celebrated painting of

Leda and the swan Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the sa ...

, lost since the end of the seventeenth century. Harp arpeggios are followed by an arabesque figure for the winds and then a quiet arioso for solo flute. #Courante. The movement starts with a forthright melody for the concerted winds. The central trio section is a canon for the oboe and horn, echoed by the clarinet and.bassoon. #Salut final au Duc de Milan. The last movement is a shortened repeat of the opening Entrée. An arrangement of the suite for piano four hands by André Gedalge was published ''circa'' 1911.

Recordings

Hahn conducted a recording of the suite with an anonymous Parisian ensemble in 1935, released on 78 rpm discs by the Compagnie Française du Gramophone, and reissued on CD in 1997 and 2004.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

(November 2020) lists subsequent recordings conducted by Nicolas Chalvin, Jared Chase,

Ronald Corp Ronald Geoffrey Corp, (born 4 January 1951) is a composer, conductor and Anglican priest. He is founder and artistic director of the New London Orchestra (NLO) and the New London Children's Choir. Corp is musical director of the London Chorus ...

Jean-Pierre Jacquillat Jean-Pierre Jacquillat (13 July 1935 – 6 August 1986) was a French conductor. Jacquillat was born in Versailles in 1935. He was named assistant to Charles Munch at the Orchestre de Paris in 1967. He was chief conductor of the Iceland Sy ...

, Janos Komives, Eric Laprade, Jean Maillot, Steven Richman, Timothy Salzman and Jeroen Weierink.WorldCat

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bal de Beatrice d'Este, Le Compositions by Reynaldo Hahn 20th-century classical music 1905 compositions Orchestral suites