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 are nonetheless central works.
Fauré was born in Pamiers, Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, France, 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 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. 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 old stodgy Société Nationale de Musique, and supported the rogue group which formed out of those ejected from the Société which was mainly comprised of 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 Classical, when in his early years he emulated the style of Haydn and Mendelssohn, to Romantic, and finally to an ascetic 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.
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, 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 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).
Le Papillon et la fleur Op. 1 No. 1
Gabriel Fauré Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ne fuis pas!...
Vois comme nos destins sont différents, je reste.
Tu t′en vas!
Et loin d'eux!
Et nous nous ressemblons et l′on dit que nous sommes
Fleurs tous deux!
Mais hélas, l'air t'emporte, et la terre m′enchaine.
Sort cruel!
Je voudrais embaumer ton vol de mon haleine.
Dans le ciel!
Mais non, tu vas trop loin, parmi des fleurs sans nombre.
Vous fuyez!
Et moi je reste seule à voir tourner mon ombre.
A mes pieds!
Tu fuis, puis tu reviens, puis tu t′en vas encore
Luire ailleurs!
Aussi me trouves-tu toujours à chaque aurore
Tout en pleurs!
Ah! pour que notre amour coule des jours fidèles.
Ô mon roi!
Prends comme moi racine ou donne-moi des ailes
Comme à toi!
The song "Le Papillon et la fleur" by Gabriel Fauré is a dialogue between a flower and a butterfly. The flower implores the butterfly not to leave her, pointing out their similarities and shared love. However, the butterfly explains that they have different destinies - the air lifts him up, while the earth encumbers the flower. The flower wishes to adorn the butterfly's flight with her fragrance, yet she remains rooted to the ground. As the butterfly flits away, the flower remains alone, watching her own shadow revolve around her. Despite the pain of separation, the flower cannot help but weep every morning when the butterfly fails to return. In the song's final lines, the flower begs the butterfly to either take root like her or give her wings like his own in order to spend their lives together.
"Le Papillon et la fleur" is a poignant metaphor for unrequited love. The flower in the song represents the singer, who longs for the freedom and beauty of the butterfly, the object of his love. However, the butterfly is unable to reciprocate the flower's feelings because he is not bound by the same earthly limitations. Gabriel Fauré melds together the beauty of nature and the archetype of the tragic love story to create a moving piece of music that speaks to the human condition.
Line by Line Meaning
La pauvre fleur disait au papillon céleste:
The poor flower spoke to the celestial butterfly:
Ne fuis pas!...
Don't flee!...
Vois comme nos destins sont différents, je reste.
See how our destinies differ, I remain.
Tu t'en vas!
You are leaving!
Pourtant nous nous aimons, nous vivons sans les hommes, Et loin d'eux!
Yet we love each other, we live without men, far from them!
Et nous nous ressemblons et l'on dit que nous sommes Fleurs tous deux!
And we resemble each other, we are both called flowers!
Mais hélas, l'air t'emporte, et la terre m'enchaîne. Sort cruel!
But alas, the air carries you away, and the earth chains me. Cruel fate!
Je voudrais embaumer ton vol de mon haleine. Dans le ciel!
I wish to perfume your flight with my breath. In the sky!
Mais non, tu vas trop loin, parmi des fleurs sans nombre. Vous fuyez!
But no, you go too far, amidst countless flowers. You flee!
Et moi je reste seule à voir tourner mon ombre. A mes pieds!
And I remain alone, watching my shadow turn at my feet!
Tu fuis, puis tu reviens, puis tu t'en vas encore Luire ailleurs!
You flee, then you return, then you leave again to shine elsewhere!
Aussi me trouves-tu toujours à chaque aurore Tout en pleurs!
Thus you find me always at every dawn, all in tears!
Ah! pour que notre amour coule des jours fidèles. Ô mon roi!
Ah! That our love may flow for faithful days. Oh, my king!
Prends comme moi racine ou donne-moi des ailes Comme à toi!
Take root like me or give me wings like yours!
Writer(s): Gabriel Faure, Victor Hugo, Goff Richards
Contributed by Carter E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@michaelp4657
Elly Ameling's voice is freaky beautiful! With tastefully judged gradients of dynamics&tone color, she creates extraordinary moments in this song.
@NatashaCastro
I agree!
@sadiew8755
oh my goodnesssss this is amazing! the piano is great
@josephineraffaele4830
The humble flower said to the heavenly butterfly:
Do not flee!
See how our destinies differ. Fixed to earth am I,
You fly away!
Yet we love each other, we live without men
And far from them,
And we are so alike, it is said that both of us
Are flowers!
But alas! The breeze bears you away, the earth holds me fast.
Cruel fate!
I would perfume your flight with my fragrant breath
In the sky!
But no, you flit too far! Among countless flowers
You fly away,
While I remain alone, and watch my shadow circle
Round my feet.
You fly away, then return; then take flight again
To shimmer elsewhere.
And so you always find me at each dawn
Bathed in tears!
Ah, that our love might flow through faithful days,
O my king,
Take root like me, or give me wings
Like yours!
@erictao8396
Thank you!
@scottochantal-rose7430
cette pièce est très belle, pas si facile à chanter....
@VeronicaBellSoprano
her voice is truly gorgeous, the technique is flawless but why do a "merry-go-round"? The lyrics are so beautiful, touching and sad, and none of it is reflected in performance...
@queennadya9225
❤❤❤
@eclucas2222
on est là hein