Gabriel Fauré - The "Master of Charms"
Part 1
The Popular Fauré: Short and Sweet
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was an underrated French composer working one musical generation before the Impressionist revolution of Debussy and Ravel. This occasional series on Fauré begins with three of his stunningly beautiful melodies - Pavane, Berceuse (Op. 16) and Sicilienne. Not only do these elegant short pieces serve to introduce Fauré to new listeners, they are also a good starting point for anyone who wants to build an appreciation of classical music. You cannot find better melodies anywhere and there will always be room for melody in music no matter how avant-garde things get. I'll take a nice melody over laptop cicada music any day of the week!
Fauré, often dismissed as a salon fixture, has not received his due as one of the greatest of all lyrical composers. Debussy called him "The Master of Charms". Fauré's unbelievably long melodic lines set him apart. A doctoral dissertation found that Fauré kept the melodies in his songs to a span of an octave or less and that the range narrowed over time. Also, his intervals were small, with the use of large intervals declining, and the use of repeated notes increasing, over time. This pattern of growing simplification and compactness should not be too surprising, given that the strongest melodies derive from what the human voice naturally tends to do - move along the scale in one-note intervals. The dissertation also noted Fauré's distinctive tendency to start melodies on different beats of the measure.
Pavane is a nostalgic work written for orchestra. Part of its appeal is attributable to the strategic use of the raised seventh in close proximity to the flat seven in a minor key. A patron suggested a chorus part which Fauré added but it is not often performed today.
Sicilienne is one of the most popular and beloved of all of Fauré's works. Fauré included it in his incidental music for Maeterlinck's play Pelléas et Mélisande, but the origins of the tune are disputed. Some say Fauré wrote Sicilienne in 1893 for a production of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme but other sources maintain that it was written around the time of Pelléas as a solo piece for a particular English cellist.
Berceuse for Violin and Piano (Op. 16) is a cradle song not to be confused with the first movement of Fauré's Dolly suite (Op. 56). Fauré's publisher pressured him to write a melody that would sell widely because the publisher expected to take a loss on an upcoming Fauré quartet.
The Popular Fauré: Short and Sweet
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was an underrated French composer working one musical generation before the Impressionist revolution of Debussy and Ravel. This occasional series on Fauré begins with three of his stunningly beautiful melodies - Pavane, Berceuse (Op. 16) and Sicilienne. Not only do these elegant short pieces serve to introduce Fauré to new listeners, they are also a good starting point for anyone who wants to build an appreciation of classical music. You cannot find better melodies anywhere and there will always be room for melody in music no matter how avant-garde things get. I'll take a nice melody over laptop cicada music any day of the week!
Fauré, often dismissed as a salon fixture, has not received his due as one of the greatest of all lyrical composers. Debussy called him "The Master of Charms". Fauré's unbelievably long melodic lines set him apart. A doctoral dissertation found that Fauré kept the melodies in his songs to a span of an octave or less and that the range narrowed over time. Also, his intervals were small, with the use of large intervals declining, and the use of repeated notes increasing, over time. This pattern of growing simplification and compactness should not be too surprising, given that the strongest melodies derive from what the human voice naturally tends to do - move along the scale in one-note intervals. The dissertation also noted Fauré's distinctive tendency to start melodies on different beats of the measure.
Pavane is a nostalgic work written for orchestra. Part of its appeal is attributable to the strategic use of the raised seventh in close proximity to the flat seven in a minor key. A patron suggested a chorus part which Fauré added but it is not often performed today.
Sicilienne is one of the most popular and beloved of all of Fauré's works. Fauré included it in his incidental music for Maeterlinck's play Pelléas et Mélisande, but the origins of the tune are disputed. Some say Fauré wrote Sicilienne in 1893 for a production of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme but other sources maintain that it was written around the time of Pelléas as a solo piece for a particular English cellist.
Berceuse for Violin and Piano (Op. 16) is a cradle song not to be confused with the first movement of Fauré's Dolly suite (Op. 56). Fauré's publisher pressured him to write a melody that would sell widely because the publisher expected to take a loss on an upcoming Fauré quartet.