Everything about Gabriel Faur totally explained
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (
12 May 1845 –
4 November 1924) was a
French composer,
organist,
pianist, and
teacher. He was the foremost French composer of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers. His
harmonic and
melodic language affected how harmony was later taught.
Biography
Fauré was born in
Pamiers,
Ariège,
Midi-Pyrénées, to Toussaint-Honoré Fauré and Marie-Antoinette-Hélène Lalène-Laprade. Fauré was sent to live with a foster-nurse for four years. At the age of nine he was sent to study at the
École Niedermeyer, a school which prepared church organists and choir directors in
Paris, and continued there for eleven years. He studied with several prominent French musicians, including
Camille Saint-Saëns, who introduced him to the music of several contemporary composers, including
Robert Schumann and
Franz Liszt.
In 1870, Fauré enlisted in the army and took part in the action to raise the
Siege of Paris during the
Franco-Prussian War. During the
Paris Commune he stayed at
Rambouillet and in
Switzerland, where he taught at the transported École Niedermeyer. When he returned to Paris in October of 1871, he was appointed assistant organist at
Saint-Sulpice as accompanist to the choir, and became a regular at Saint-Saëns'
salon. Here he met many prominent Parisian musicians and with those he met there and at the salon of
Pauline Garcia-Viardot he formed the
Société Nationale de Musique.
In 1874, Fauré stopped working at Saint-Sulpice and began to fill in at the
Église de la Madeleine for Saint-Saëns during his many absences. When Saint-Saëns retired in 1877, Fauré became choirmaster. In the same year he became engaged to Marianne Viardot, daughter of Pauline, but the engagement was later broken off by Marianne. Following this disappointment he travelled to
Weimar, where he met Liszt, and
Cologne in order to see productions of
Richard Wagner's
Der Ring des Nibelungen. Fauré admired Wagner, but was one of few composers of his generation not to come under his influence.
In 1883, Fauré married Marie Fremiet, with whom he'd two sons. In order to support his family Fauré spent most of his time in organising daily services at the Église de la Madeleine and teaching piano and harmony lessons. He only had time to compose during the summers. He earned almost no money from his compositions because his publisher bought them, copyright and all, for 50
francs each. During this period Gabriel Fauré wrote several large scale works, in addition to many piano pieces and songs, but he destroyed many of them after a few performances, only retaining a few movements in order to re-use motives.
During his youth Fauré was very cheerful, but his broken engagement combined with his perceived lack of musical success led to bouts of
depression which he described as "
spleen". In the 1890s, however, his fortunes reversed somewhat. He had a successful trip to
Venice where he met with friends and wrote several works. In 1892, he became the inspector of the music conservatories in the French provinces, which meant he no longer had to teach amateur students. In 1896, he finally became chief organist at the Église de la Madeleine, and also succeeded
Jules Massenet as composition instructor at the
Conservatoire de Paris. At this post he taught many important French composers, including
Maurice Ravel and
Nadia Boulanger.
From 1903 to 1921, Fauré was a critic for
Le Figaro. In 1905, he succeeded
Théodore Dubois as director of the Paris Conservatory. He made many changes at the Conservatoire, leading to the resignation of a number of faculty members. This position meant that he was better off in terms of income, and he also became much more widely known as a composer.
Fauré was elected to the
Institut de France in 1909, but at the same time he broke with the
Société Nationale de Musique, and supported the rogue group which formed out of those ejected from the Société, mainly his own students. During this time Fauré developed ear trouble and gradually lost his hearing. Sound not only became fainter, but it was also distorted, so that pitches on the low and high ends of his hearing sounded like other pitches. He made efforts to conceal his difficulty, but was eventually forced to abandon his teaching position.
His responsibilities at the Conservatoire, combined with his hearing loss, meant that Fauré's output was greatly reduced during this period. During
World War I Fauré remained in France. In 1920, at the age of 75, he retired from the Conservatoire mainly due to his increasing deafness. In this year he also received the Grand-Croix of the
Légion d'Honneur, an honor rare for a musician. He suffered from poor health, partially brought on by heavy smoking. Despite this, he remained available to young composers, including members of
Les Six, who were devoted to him.
Gabriel Fauré died in Paris from
pneumonia in 1924. He was given a state funeral at the
Église de la Madeleine and is buried in the
Cimetière de Passy in Paris.
Music
Overview
Gabriel Fauré is regarded as the master of the French art song, or
mélodie. His works ranged from an early romantic style, when in his early years he emulated the style of
Mendelssohn and others, to late 19th century
Romantic, and finally to a
20th century aesthetic. His work was based on a strong understanding of harmonic structures which he received at the École Niedermeyer from his harmony teacher Gustave Lefèvre, who wrote the book
Traité d'harmonie (Paris, 1889). In this book he sets forth a harmonic theory which differs significantly from the classical theory of
Jean-Philippe Rameau in that seventh and ninth chords are no longer considered
dissonant, and the mediant can be altered without changing the mode. In addition, Fauré's understanding of the church modes can be seen in various modal passages in his works, especially in his melodies.
In contrast with his harmonic and melodic style, which pushed the bounds for his time, Fauré's rhythmic motives tended to be subtle and repetitive, with little to break the flow of the line, although he did utilize subtle large scale syncopations, similar to those found in
Brahms works.
Aaron Copland referred to him as the 'French Brahms'.
Fauré's piano works often use
arpeggiated figures with the melody interspersed between the two hands, and include finger substitutions natural for organists. These aspects make them daunting for some pianists, but they're nonetheless central works.
Notable works
Fauré was a prolific composer, and among the most noteworthy of his works are his
Requiem, the
opera Penelope, the
orchestral suite Masques et Bergamasques (based on music for a dramatic entertainment, or
divertissement comique), and music for
Pelléas et Mélisande. He also wrote
chamber music; his two
piano quartets are particularly well known. Other chamber music includes two
piano quintets, two
cello sonatas, two
violin sonatas, and a number of
piano pieces including the
Nocturnes. He is also known for his songs, such as
Après un rêve,
Les roses d'Ispahan,
En prière, and several
song cycles, including
La Bonne Chanson with settings of poems by
Verlaine, and
L'horizon chimérique.
The
Requiem, Op. 48, wasn't composed to the memory of a specific person but, in Fauré's words, "for the pleasure of it". It was first performed in 1888. Fauré is thought not to have had strong religious beliefs. It has been described as "a lullaby of death". In setting his
requiem, he left out the
Dies irae, though the reference to the day of judgment appears in the
Libera me, which he added to the normal requiem mass. Several slightly different versions of the
Requiem exist, and these have given rise to a number of different recordings. Personal grief may have influenced the composition as it was started after the death of his father, and before it was completed, his mother died as well. The
Requiem can thus be seen as an expression of Fauré's personal tragedy written after the death of his parents. The
Requiem is also acknowledged as a source of inspiration for the similar setting by
Maurice Duruflé.
His music is used in "Act I: Emeralds" of
George Balanchine's ballet
Jewels (1967).
Works
Après un rêve, Op. 7
Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Élégie, Op. 24
Requiem in D minor, Op. 48
Pavane, Op. 50
Dolly, Op. 56, 6-piece Suite for piano at 4 hands ("Berceuse", "Mi-a-ou", "Le Jardin de Dolly", "Kitty-Valse", "Tendresse", "Le Pas Espagnol")
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80
Masques et Bergamasques, Op. 112
Messe Basse
Prométhée (opera in three acts: Tragédie lyrique, 1900)
Pénélope (opera in three acts: Poème lyrique, 1913)
Media
Further Information
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