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Portrait in oils of Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent, about 1889 (Paris Museum of Music)
Portrait in oils of Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent, about 1889 (Paris Museum of Music)

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. John Singer Sargent (January 12 1856 &ndash April 14 1925 was the most successful portrait painter of his era During his career he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than The Cité de la Musique ( City of Music) is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter 19th arrondissement, Paris Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1333 - Flood of the Arno River, causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or Orchestra, or accompany A pianist (/'piənɪst/ is a Musician who plays the Piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces play with an ensemble or Orchestra In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or 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. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or

Contents

Biography

Fauré was born in Pamiers, Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, to Toussaint-Honoré Fauré and Marie-Antoinette-Hélène Lalène-Laprade. Pamiers is a commune in the Ariège département in southwestern France. Ariège ( Occitan: Arièja) is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River. Midi-Pyrénées ( Occitan: Miègjorn-Pirenèus or Mieidia-Pirenèus) is the largest region of Metropolitan France by area larger 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. Abraham Louis Niedermeyer ( 27 April 1802 &ndash 14 March 1861) was a Composer chiefly of Church music but also of Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city 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. Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann (June 8 1810 &ndash July 29 1856 was a German Composer, Aesthete and influential Music critic

Gabriel Fauré in 1864.
Gabriel Fauré in 1864.

In 1870, Fauré enlisted in the army and took part in the action to raise the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 &ndash January 28, 1871, brought about French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 During the Paris Commune he stayed at Rambouillet and in Switzerland, where he taught at the transported École Niedermeyer. The Paris Commune (La Commune de Paris was a Government that briefly ruled Paris from 18 March (more formally from 26 March) to 28 May Rambouillet is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation 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. Saint-Sulpice (/sɛ̃ sylpis/ is a famous Parisian church on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice, in the Luxembourg Quarter of the VIe arrondissement A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through 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. Pauline García-Viardot ( July 18, 1821 &ndash May 18, 1910) was a nineteenth century Spanish Mezzo-soprano and Composer The Société Nationale de Musique was founded on February 25 1871 to promote French music and to allow young composers to present their music in public

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. L'église de la Madeleine (more formally L'église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine; less formally just La Madeleine) Madeleine Church in English is a church 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. Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald, Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer 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 had 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. The franc (represented by the franc sign ₣ or more commonly just F) is a former Currency of France. 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 fields of Psychology and Psychiatry, the terms depression or depressed refer to both expected and pathologically chronic or severe The spleen is an organ found in all Vertebrate animals In humans the spleen is located in the abdomen of the body where it functions in the destruction of redundant Red In the 1890s, however, his fortunes reversed somewhat. He had a successful trip to Venice where he met with friends and wrote several works. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the 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. Jules (Émile Frédéric Massenet ( May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his Operas The Conservatoire de Paris is an institution of higher education that has played an important role in the development of Music in France and Western Europe At this post he taught many important French composers, including Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. Nadia Boulanger (September 16 1887 &ndash October 22 1979 was an influential French Composer, conductor, and Music professor

From 1903 to 1921, Fauré was a critic for Le Figaro. Le Figaro is one of the leading French morning daily Newspapers Its editorial line is conservative and has generally been supportive of In 1905, he succeeded Théodore Dubois as director of the Paris Conservatory. François-Clément Théodore Dubois (August 24 1837 &ndash June 11 1924 was a French Composer, Organist and Music teacher 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. The Institut de France (French Institute is a French Learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is probably the Académie The Société Nationale de Musique was founded on February 25 1871 to promote French music and to allow young composers to present their music in public 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. [1]

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. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In 1920, at the age of 75, he retired from the Conservatoire mainly due to his increasing deafness[2]. 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. Les Six is a name inspired by The Five, given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled ‘Les cinq Russes les

Gabriel Fauré died in Paris from pneumonia in 1924. Pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the Lung. Frequently it is described as lung Parenchyma / alveolar inflammation and abnormal He was given a state funeral at the Église de la Madeleine and is buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris. L'église de la Madeleine (more formally L'église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine; less formally just La Madeleine) Madeleine Church in English is a church The Passy Cemetery ( Fr: Cimetière de Passy is a famous cemetery located at 2 rue du Commandant Schlœsing in Passy, in the 16ème ''arrondissement''

Music

Gabriel Fauré in 1895.
Gabriel Fauré in 1895.

Overview

Gabriel Fauré is regarded as the master of the French art song, or mélodie. Mélodie refers to French art songs of the mid 19th century to the present it is the French equivalent of the German Lied. 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. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3 1809 &ndash November 4 1847 was a German Composer Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 At the turn of the 20th century classical music was characteristically late Romantic in style while at the same time the Impressionist movement spearheaded by Claude Debussy 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 which Lefèvre 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. Jean-Philippe Rameau (ʒɑ̃filip ʀaˈmo in French (September 25 1683 – September 12 1764 was one of the most important French Composers and music theorists In Music, the mediant is the third degree of the Diatonic scale, being the "middle" note of the tonic In Music, a scale is an ordered series of Musical intervals which along with the key or tonic, define the pitches However 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. Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer Aaron Copland referred to him as the 'French Brahms'. Aaron Copland (November 14 1900 &ndash December 2 1990 was an American Composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished Pianist. [3]

Fauré's piano works often use arpeggiated figures with the melody interspersed between the two hands, and include finger substitutions natural for organists. In Music, an arpeggio is a broken chord where the Notes are played or sung in Sequence, one after the other rather than Ringing out simultaneously These aspects make them daunting for some pianists, but they are 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. Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op 48 between 1887 and 1890 Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto An orchestral suite is a Suite of stylized dances for orchestra either originally composed (like the four Orchestral Suites by Bach) or as a series Masques et Bergamasques is a twentieth-century musical homage to the world of the Fêtes galantes of the eighteenth century by the French composer organist and choirmaster Pelléas et Mélisande Op80. In 1898 Gabriel Fauré composed and conducted the incidental music for the London production of Maeterlinck 's play. He also wrote chamber music; his two piano quartets are particularly well known. Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber A piano quartet is a Musical ensemble consisting of a Piano and three other instruments or a piece written for such a group Other chamber music includes two piano quintets, two cello sonatas, two violin sonatas, and a number of piano pieces including the Nocturnes. A piano quintet is a chamber Musical ensemble made up of one Piano and four other instruments or a piece written for such a group A cello sonata usually denotes a sonata written for Cello and Piano, though other instrumentations are used such as solo cello A violin sonata is a musical composition for solo Violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a Piano or other keyboard instrument or by Figured bass The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers 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. Song cycles in classical music The first generally accepted example of a song cycle is Ludwig van Beethoven 's An die ferne Geliebte (1816 La Bonne Chanson is a collection of poems written by Paul Verlaine from the winter of 1869 to the spring of 1870. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist

The Requiem, Op. Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op 48 between 1887 and 1890 48, was not 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, like Giuseppe Verdi, he added to the normal requiem mass. The Requiem (from Latin requiem, accusative case of requies, rest or Requiem Mass (informally a funeral Mass also known formally (in Latin as the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath is a famous thirteenth century Latin Hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano. The Requiem (from Latin requiem, accusative case of requies, rest or Requiem Mass (informally a funeral Mass also known formally (in Latin as the 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. Maurice Duruflé (January 11 1902 &ndash June 16 1986 was a French Composer, Organist, and Pedagogue.

His music is used in "Act I: Emeralds" of George Balanchine's ballet Jewels (1967). See also List of ballets by George Balanchine, George Balanchine (January 22 1904 &ndash April 30 1983 born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze

In the UK, the Berceuse from his Dolly Suite became known to several generations of children when it was used as the closing music for the radio programme Listen with Mother, which ran from 1950 to 1982.

Works

Gabriel Fauré conducting a performance of his opera Prométhée.
Gabriel Fauré conducting a performance of his opera Prométhée.
Main article: List of compositions by Gabriel Fauré

Media

External links

References

  1. ^ Nicolas Slonimsky, ed. Richard Kassel, Webster's New World Dictionary of Music, 1998, Schirmer's Books; p. 155
  2. ^ Eric Blom, ed. , Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition, 1966
  3. ^ All Things Strings: Jazzy Gems, page1

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