Abstract
Reynaldo Hahn, a Venezuelan-born French composer, is growing in popularity for his vocal repertoires in the American academia. His piano works have been practically unknown on this continent until the late American pianist Earl Wild recorded a series of his piano works, Le Rossignol Eperdu, containing 53 solo piano compositions. Le Rossignol Eperdu is divided into four series, and the second suite entitled “Orient” drew particular attention from disc reviewers. Currently, there is no publication or dissertation written about Reynaldo Hahn’s solo piano compositions in English, which limits accessibility to Reynaldo Hahn’s piano music. The purpose of this research is to promote understanding of the highlighted piano pieces by Hahn, “Orient” from Le Rossignol Eperdu, by tracing the history of French Orientalism in music and by providing compositional analysis of each piece in his “Orient” series. I would like to add that my study of Orientalism in this essay is purely for academic purpose, and, by no means do I support the French imperialism in the past. This essay is not political, and it is meant to further both musical and aesthetic understanding of the selected piano pieces.