SKU: A0.549723

Duration: ca. 7:00, Score: 12 pages, solo part: 2 pages, piano: 7 pages. An epic choice for a recital or funeral. Fauré Background: In the first place, Gabriel Fauré 1845 –1924) was a famous French composer, musician, and educator. Furthermore, his musical ideas influenced numerous 20th-century composers. Therefore, historians regard him as one of the leading French composers of his time. Famous Works: Among his most famous compositions, by and large, are the Pavane, Elegie (op. 24), Requiem, Sicilienne, Nocturnes for piano and the songs Après un rêve and Clair de lune. Inasmuch as his early works are well-known and relatively easy to perform, Faure’s music seems to have become gradually more difficult during his later life. In other words, his later works are somewhat esoteric and complex. Early Home Life: Fauré was in fact born into a well-cultivated family. His aptitude for music became particularly clear early on - when he was still a boy. Under these circumstances, his parents sent him to a music institution in Paris. Consequently, the training he received there prepared him for a career as a church organist and choirmaster. Middle Life: It is important to realize that Fauré studied music composition with the French musical mastermind Camille Saint-Saëns, who became his lifelong friend. Fauré eventually graduated from college and earned a living as an organist and educator. During this period, he had, on the whole, little time to compose. He consequently became more successful in his middle age, becoming organist of the Église de la Madeleine and director of the Paris Conservatoire. However, he still needed time on balance for composing. Therefore, given these points, he withdrew to the countryside during the summer to focus on composing. Later Life: Fauré was, in the final analysis, recognized in France as the foremost French composer of his time. The French government held a national musical tribute particularly for him in Paris. The French President notably headed the ceremony. Elsewhere, on the contrary, Fauré's music was slow to become accepted, except of course, in England. Legacy: Historians often describe Fauré's music in general as a transition between the end of Romanticism and the beginning of modernism. As an illustration, when Fauré was born, Chopin was still composing. However, by the time of Fauré's death, jazz and atonal music, in particular, had come to fruition. Fauré, by all means, suffered from increasing deafness in his later years. Some musicologists believe this to be indeed the cause of the esoteric nature of Faure’s final works.