Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este
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Le Bal de Béatrice d'Este is a seven-movement suite for chamber ensemble by Reynaldo Hahn, first performed in 1905 in Paris.
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.[1] 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.[1] 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.[2] The suite is dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, with whom Hahn had studied in the 1890s.[3]
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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[4]
The British premiere was on 11 September 1913 at the Promenade Concerts at the Queen's Hall.[5]
