Gabriel-Urbain Fauré was born in Pamiers, France, on May 12, 1845. His
music study took place in Paris with Niedermeyer and Saint-Saëns. After
that he served as organist in Rennes and Paris, and held the important
post of organist at the Madeleine Church in Paris from 1896 on. In 1896
he also became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where,
from 1905 until 1920, he was director. In 1909 he was elected member of
the Académie des Beaux Arts, and in 1910 made Commander of the Legion of
Honor. In the last years of his life he suffered from deafness. He died
in Paris on November 4, 1924.
Fauré was one of France’s major composers, creator of a considerable
library of piano and chamber music as well as works for symphony
orchestra which included _Pelleas and Melisande_, a suite (1898) and the
_Ballade_ for piano and orchestra (1881). His music is filled with
classic beauty, serenity, and a most delicate sensibility and thus makes
an appeal only to a highly cultivated music lover. But a few of his
works have such melodic charm and appealing moods that they cannot fail
to cast a spell even on the untrained listener.
_Après un rêve_ is a song, the first in a set of three published as op.
7 (1885), lyrics by Romain Bussine. Exquisite in its sensitive lyricism,
this melody has become popular in many transcriptions, some for
orchestra, one for violin and piano by Mischa Elman, and another for
cello and piano by Pablo Casals.
_Dolly_ (1893-1896) is a suite of six pieces for children which the
composer originally wrote as a piano duet for Dolly Bardac, daughter of
a woman who later became Debussy’s wife. Henri Rabaud orchestrated this
suite in 1906, and it was first performed in connection with a ballet
staged at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris. In this music the composer
looks back on childhood and the world of the child with poetic insight
and occasionally a gentle sense of humor; in this respect this suite is
not unlike _Children’s Corner_ of Debussy. It opens with “Berceuse,” a
gentle melody for the woodwind, which Jacques Thibaud arranged for
violin and piano. This is followed by “Mi-a-ou,” a little quartet for
muted trumpets. A flute solo dominates “_Le Jardin de Dolly_,” while
“_Kitty Valse_” is a light and vivacious waltz tune. In “_Tendresse_”
the melody is first heard in strings. A tranquil middle section presents
the solo oboe above a harp accompaniment. The closing movement, “_Le Pas
espagnol_” is gay and brilliant music that pays homage to Chabrier,
composer of _España_.
The _Pavane_, for orchestra, op. 50 (1887) is music of stately, classic
beauty over which hovers the Hellenic spirit so often found in Fauré’s
most significant works. Against an insistent rhythm, the flute offers
the haunting refrain of the Pavane. This dance melody is soon shared by
the other woodwind, after which it unfolds completely in violins and the
woodwind, other strings providing a rhythmic pizzicato accompaniment. A
transition in the strings then leads us back to the graceful mood and
the gentle lyricism of the Pavane melody.
The same subdued and classic repose we find in the _Pavane_
distinguishes another of Fauré’s popular compositions, the _Sicilienne_,
for cello and piano, op. 78 (1898). Transcriptions for orchestra of this
composition are even more famous than the original version.