Orchestral suite
Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este is a seven-movement suite for chamber ensemble by Reynaldo Hahn, first performed in 1905 in Paris.
History.
The composer Reynaldo Hahn – born in Venezuela and long resident in Paris, though not yet, in 1905, a French national – was devoted to France, and interested in its historical culture. In his "mélodies" he made several settings of words by French poets of medieval and Renaissance times, and sometimes composed in a style evoking their eras. For "Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este", however, he turned to Italian history. Beatrice d'Este was the wife of the 15th-century Duke of Milan, Ludovico ("Il Moro") Sforza. She presided over a glittering court, which included Donato Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci and other leading artists. Hahn based his suite on archaic dance measures, to portray a grand ball at the ducal palace. The suite is dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, with whom Hahn had studied in the 1890s.
The work was first performed privately, at the Paris house of Madeleine Lemaire 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 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.
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 (November 2020) lists subsequent recordings conducted by Nicolas Chalvin, Jared Chase, Ronald Corp, Jean-Pierre Jacquillat, Janos Komives, Eric Laprade, Jean Maillot, Steven Richman, Timothy Salzman and Jeroen Weierink.
References.
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