DESCRIPTION:
This video is from the Senior Recital of Shawn Patrick Fletcher on April 26, 2012.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, composer Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) moved to Paris with his family at the age of four. He immediately showed promise as a musician and was enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire. He gave his first performance at age six and composed the incidental music for a play at age sixteen. However, Hahn's music is not very well remembered and is not frequently performed. This may be due to the fact that Hahn's music was banned during the Nazi occupation of France and he was of Jewish heritage. However, many people also saw Hahn's music as a symbol of the Paris salons and didn't think it was proper for public performance. Nevertheless, Hahn's music has slowly been regaining popularity, most notably his mélodie.

When he first started composing, Hahn was known for his beautiful mélodie. His settings of poets like Verlaine and de Lisle have often been compared to those of Fauré. His style seemed to combine late romantic influence of composers like Fauré and Duparc while adding his own flavor of the Paris salons. Hahn's compositions were also assisted by his own vocal ability. Hahn was known to posses a beautiful light baritone voice and often accompanied himself on his own songs. As a result, his songs contain a certain level of difficulty that stretch the singer, but also provide a wonderful pedestal on which to display the beauty of the voice.

L'Heure exquise represents the end of the evening, "the exquisite hour" as sunlight is fading and all is dark except for the light of the moon. As the day ends and night descends, the singer sits holding his love and looking at the beauty around them. Everything he sees reminds him of her and he cannot help but be drawn into every moment they are together. As he sits, time slowly slipping away, his profound love for her drives his longing for this one exquisite hour to never end.


L'Heure exquise

La lune blanche luit dans les bois,
De chaque branche part une voix
Sous la ramée,
O bien-aimée!

L'étang reflète, profond miroir,
La silhouette du saule noir
Où le vent pleure,
Rêvons, c'est l'heure!

Un vaste et tendre apaisement
Semble descendre du firmament
Que l'astre irise;
C'est l'heure exquise.

Poem by Paul Verlaine

The Exquisite Hour

The white moon shines in the forest,
From every branch comes forth a voice,
Under the foliage,
Oh beloved!

The pond reflects, a deep mirror,
The silhouette of the dark willow,
Where the wind is weeping.
Let us dream, this is the hour!

A vast and tender calm
Seems to descend from the firmament,
Which the orb clads in rainbow colors;
This is the exquisite hour.

Translated by Sergius Kagen