Reynaldo Hahn was initially Marcel Proust’s big “crush” ❤️🔥, and later became his closest friend…
Translated from French.
Reynaldo Hahn was initially Marcel Proust’s great “crush” ❤️🔥, before becoming his most loyal friend. At the end of the summer of 1895, they set off together for Brittany: Belle-Île, Concarneau, a trip to the Pointe du Raz 🌊 and the return journey to Paris by train via Quimper. This enchanting holiday was the high point of their relationship, but their return to Paris brought romantic disillusionment: Marcel’s fickle heart 💞 had been swept off its feet by Lucien Daudet, who treated him rather badly in return.
Reynaldo Hahn’s compositions 🎼🎹 are not often performed or listened to these days, but he was one of the great composers of Parisian high society during the Belle Époque, as well as an elegant concert performer and singer. 🤵🏻♂️
In Brittany, Reynaldo and Marcel stayed at Beg-Meil ⛱️🍎, in Concarneau Bay, where they spent time with the American painter Thomas Alexander Harrison 🌅, one of Elstir’s models. It was at Beg-Meil that Proust began writing his first novel 🖋️, which remained unfinished five years later and was finally published in 1952 by Bernard de Fallois, at @editions_gallimard: “Jean Santeuil”.
In 2022, Reynaldo Hahn’s diary was published in the ‘Blanc’ series. It offers a glimpse into the private life of an artist, a sensitive man and a close friend of Proust. For example, it reads:
🖋️ “The pleasure that love brings is really not worth the happiness it destroys.” (Nov. 1895)
Or:
🖋️ “Dad has just died.
“Tonight, for some reason, the moonlight ‘flooding’ the sky and the treetops reminds me of Beg-Meil, that little, quiet beach in the evening, and with it, so many dear things that are now gone but still linger in my heart.” (14 June 1897) 💔
🗳️ Are you familiar with Reynaldo Hahn’s music? 🎼🎻
#MarcelProust #ReynaldoHahn #BegMeil #proustagram #JeanSanteuil #RTP #Elstir #Balbec
A musical in three acts. Libretto by Sacha Guitry
Founded in Paris in 1933
Last December at the Rouen Opera House.
It was a pleasant surprise