I’ve taken to listening to BBC Radio 3 first thing in the morning as I get ready for the day, and I have found that a brilliant variety of music is played at all hours! One piece I’ve heard recently was Chanson d’Automne by Reynaldo Hahn, from his song cycle, Chanson Grises. Having now listened to the full song cycle, it’s melancholy mixed with beauty and romance, is something I’d love to share with you all as we reach half-term.

Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs, Mélodies, of which he wrote more than 100. While Hahn was a student in 1890, he had some early success with his melodie, Si mes vers avaient des ailes (If my verses had wings) to a poem by Victor Hugo. Later that year, Chansons Grises, which are set to the poems of Paul Verlaine, was premiered by Sybil Sanderson (a famous soprano). Verlaine was present and was moved to tears by Hahn’s settings of his verse. Stéphane Mallarmé wrote: “The weeping that sings in the words of the poet, Reynaldo Hahn tenderly releases it like a fountain on the pathway.”

The imagery that Reynaldo depicts from Verlaine’s text is vivid and full of colour. Reynaldo expertly demonstrates a vast range of human emotion that anyone can relate to. As a composer, I know that it is sometimes difficult to accurately reflect humanity in a way that isn’t jarring or cliched, yet Reynaldo achieves this effortlessly. However you listen to Chanson Grises, whether it be walking through autumn leaves in Hyde Park, or on a rainy day where you wrap yourself in a multitude of blankets in an attempt to save money on bills(!), I am sure that this song cycle will provide a snapshot to the beautiful world of French song that you will hopefully look further into.

Maki Gajic Murata, Composer in Residence

Image curtesy of Yvette Gauthier