The Sunday Musical Offering - Gabriel Faure ~ Piano Quartet n.1 in C minor opus 15

My Facebook pollsters had some fun yesterday choosing between the music of Gabriel Faure and Claude Debussy. Twenty folks responded and the result ended in a tie! Each composer receiving 10 votes a piece. Since, in this case, a tie goes to the Blog Master(!), and encouraged by a wonderful suggestion from a dear friend (Lauren Flanigan), I have chosen some chamber and vocal music by Faure for this week's Sunday Musical Offering.

“Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was born in the village of Pamiers, Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées. At an early age he was sent to study at the famous École Niedermeyer, a Parisian school which prepared church organists and choir directors. He studied with several prominent French musicians, including Charles Lefèvre and Camille Saint-Saëns. For most of his life, Fauré worked as a church organist and teacher. Among his students were Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. He was a founder of the the Société Nationale de Musique and eventually became director of the Paris Conservatory. In retrospect, he has come to be regarded as a transitional and unique figure in French music. His lifetime and works spanned the period of the mid Romantic right up to the modern post-WWI developments of Stravinsky.

“He and his music were well-known during his lifetime and several of his works are still popular today such as his Requiem, the opera Pénélope, the music for Pelléas et Mélisande and the Dolly Suite. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music; including two piano quartets, two piano quintets, two cello sonatas, two violin sonatas, a string quartet, and a piano trio.” (editionsilvertrust.com)

“Fauré's Piano Quartet in c minor was perhaps his best known chamber music work and was considered in the front rank of such works, being regularly performed in the days when piano quartets were frequently heard in concert. It dates from 1879 not long after Fauré had visited Wagner and listened to his music. Impressed though he was, unlike Cesar Franck or d’Indy, he refused to fall under Wagner’s spell and set off on his own path. No better example can be found than this work. The opening movement, Allegro molto moderato, is bold and sweeping over a wide range, powerfully rhythmic and very original, it is clearly a challenge to Franck and the other French Wagnerians. He is deliberately seeking to expand the language of romanticism without going in the same direction as Wagner. Fauré, unlike Brahms or Schumann, never resorted to having the strings treated as a choir against the piano. He recognized and accepted the basic difference in sound and character between the piano and string instruments and never tried to make the piano sing long sustained melodies. He showed that it was not necessary. Using opposing arpeggios, chords and runs against the singing of a single instrument or a group of them, and giving the piano an equal role in a rich contrapuntal texture created a dazzling variety of tonal effects.” (editionsilvertrust.com)

This clip is from Le Salon de Musiques Chamber Music Series in Los Angeles (www.lesalondemusiques.com) and features Tereza Stanislav on Violin; Victoria Miskolczy on Viola; John Walz on Cello; and Steven Vanhauwaert at the Piano. This performance was recorded on February 26, 2012.

Lovely music for a Sunday or any day for that matter!

Love One Another - Brian

BONUS



This is Fauré's most popular song, and one of his earliest (Op. 7, No. 1, 1865). Romain Bussine's text is a French adaptation of an anonymous Italian poem.

Après un rêve

Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image

Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage;

Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore,

Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l'aurore.

Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre

Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière;

Les cieux pour nous, entr'ouvraient leurs nues,

Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entrevues...

Hélas! Hélas, triste réveil des songes!

Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends-moi tes mensonges;

Reviens, reviens radieuse,

Reviens, ô nuit mystérieuse!

After a dream

In a sleep which your image charmed

I dreamed of happiness, ardent mirage;

your eyes were sweeter, your voice pure and ringing,

you shone like a sky lit up by the dawn.

You were calling me and I was leaving the earth

to flee with you towards the light;

the skies parted their clouds for us,

unknown splendours, divine half-seen gleams...

Alas! Alas! Sad awakening from dreams!

I call on you, o night, give me back your deceits;

come back, come back resplendent,

come back, o mysterious night!