Consequently, his training there prepared him for a church organist and choirmaster career. Middle Life: It is essential 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 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 to balance his 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 in Paris, particularly for him. 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 Fauré's death, jazz and atonal music had mainly come to fruition. Fauré, by all means, suffered from increasing deafness in his later years. Some musicologists believe this to be the cause of the esoteric nature of Faure's final works.