Reynaldo Hahn - Venezia (1901) [Score]

Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), Venezia (1901), set of songs for voice and piano.

Venezia is a set of six songs of music by Reynaldo Hahn. For Voice and Piano, the lyrics are written both in Venetian dialect and in French. The Piano score requires an upper-intermediate technique, as per the Voice. A small guide to correct pronunciation is given at the beginning of the book.

The six songs are:

- “Sopra l’acqua indormenzada” by Pietro Pagello 0:00
- “La Barcheta” by Pietro Buratti 3:35
- “L’avertimento” by Pietro Buratti 7:33
- “La Biondina in Gondoleta” by Antonio Lamberti 9:05
- “Che peca !” by Francesco Dall’ Ongaro 12:55
- “La Primavera” by Alvise Cigogna 15:08

Sung by Joyce Di Donato, piano Julius Drake.

Free traduction of the description by Sylvain Paul Labartette , from http://reynaldo-hahn.net/Html/melodiesvenezia.htm

Reynaldo Hahn was a naturalised French composer, conductor, theatre director and singer. Best known as a composer of songs, he also wrote many pieces and melodies for different instruments.

This set was print in Paris on the 6th July 1901 by the editor Heugel. The Italian publishing house Ed. Sonzogno in Milan also printed these songs. Edoardo Sonzogno (1836-1920) was and editor of music who had some contacts with the editor Heugel.

The forth song, la Biondina in Gondoleta, is a reinterpretation of Hahn of an already famous song in Venice and Veneto. The editor knew that Hahn’s reinterpretation would have never been famous as the original song. Anyway, Hahn remembered what happened once, when he sang his songs with some friends on a gondola during the spring of 1900:

Les Chansons Vénitiennes ont fait l'effet, dans cette petite foule, de cartouches explosives, causant une joie, une surprise qui m'ont fait plaisir. "Ancora ! Ancora !" criait-on de là-haut. .

Hahn considered with high regard Venetian dialect and so he put much effort during the composition of the songs, with a particular attention to the correct pronunciation of the words. He also included a little list of phonetics at the beginning of the set. We read from his “Notes, journal d'un musicien:

L'idiome vénitien est enchanteur. On entend une voix de jeune homme : c'est un vieillard qui parle. Véritable langage de l'amour, il garde une adolescence éternelle ; l'inflexion qui revient à tout moment lui donne une souplesse, une mobilité charmantes. La suppression des z, des ch, des e muets, si encombrants en italien, l'escamotage de la plupart des l entre une voyelle et une consonne ôtent à une langue tout "ce qui pèse ou qui pose". On ne peut la parler que d'une voix élaguée ou, pour mieux dire, la voix s'amenuise et se rajeunit en la parlant. Rien de touchant comme d'entendre dans la bouche des petits enfants de la rue les premiers échos de ce ravissant dialecte. Ils possèdent déjà le principe d'un merveilleux sortilège amoureux et ne s'en doutent pas.

The songs have some dedicatees:

- Sopra l´acqua indormenzada : à Mademoiselle Calvé ;
- L'avertimento : à Madame la Comtesse de Guerne, née Ségur ;
- La Biondina in gondoleta : à Mme Ernesta Stern ;
- Che pecà ! : au Prince Giovanni Borghèse ;
- La Primavera : à Tosti.

All these people were friends of the composer who spent the time together with him during the vacation in Venice and during the composition of the songs.

The Comtesse de Gueme and Ernesta Stem were some personalities of the high society, while Emma Calvé was a singer and Paolo Tosti was a composer at the time quite famous for his melodies in the music Parisian world.

While staying in Venice, Reynaldo Hahn spent some time with Marcel Proust during March 1900. They went to Padua and stayed in Battaglia Terme, a small spa on the Frasine, a few kilometers south of Padua. It was there, in June 1900, that he finished two of these six melodies: Che pecà! and La Primavera.

Original audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWsDIeRTtLk
Score: https://imslp.org/wiki/Venezia_(Hahn%2C_Reynaldo)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I DO NOT own the AUDIO neither the SCORE. I don't earn anything by doing this video and it has been done only for didactical purposes. Copyrights go to all the artists.

Видео Reynaldo Hahn - Venezia (1901) [Score] канала fromsuntosun