How is this music so BEAUTIFUL?! (Fauré: Pavane)

Gabriel Fauré's Pavane is one of those pieces that just speaks directly to your heart with an air of nobility intact. The composition is a masterclass in coherent melodic structure and the use of coloring notes in harmony.

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0:00 About
1:37 Piano versions?
3:12 Analysis: Main part
10:31 Mini middle section
15:01 Main return
17:30 More sections

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Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50 (1887)

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[neilanthonyhaywardlewis]

After 42 years of not playing piano, I am learning this piece, beautiful piece 😊

[vocalchords]

Outrageously joyous and wonderful to sit alongside as you open the architecture to us. Thank you for your generosity in sharing the music with us as you do.

[MalcolmFonseca]

I like the way Mr. Henrik describes the music: 'French-flavour' chord, 'deceptive cadence' (in Gymnopedie/Satie). And the comparison of certain cadences to similar cadences in other pieces by other composers. It makes for very interesting listening.

[dcwang]

Your expertise along with your true love for these beautiful pieces are greatly appreciated

[zecalimazeca]

It would be great if you could write the chords in all your analysis so we could understand better the harmony of all songs. That would be so helpful. You some times do this but only in some parts of the pieces. Hope this is not to ask too much from you and the great job you do in making all these videos and sharing you knowledge to all of us around the world. No words to thank you enough.

[simongross]

I love this. To me it seems like there's a lot of tension but at the same time very peaceful. Beautiful. Thank you.

[zecalimazeca]

Love your lessons. Thank you from Brazil

[davidwhite]

I very much enjoyed this

I’m fascinated by the approach, because as a performer you’re taking liberties with the composition I think, adding octaves, choosing a shorter over a longer version, etc.

But it was interesting to listen to you do this: several useful tips relevant to composing

[michaelacord]

Love your analysis of this beautiful pavane. I also like your shortened version of the piece--it suits the solo piano. I think Faure is often overlooked as a great composer. His Requiem is a favorite of mine.

[CeciliaLee]

First piano music I would like to play! I got it in my head for over a week. Amazingly beautiful. Surprisingly I can do it with both hands!?! As a beginner, this music has magic! I have watched your other video, your performance has magic too !!

[hippophile]

Fauré's greatest hits for me include his Élégie for Cello and orchestra...

[jonathansprout]

A brilliant analysis of both the performance and the composition of this riveting piece of music. Adding octaves near the end tastefully heightens the melody. Explaining the 5ths and 3rds jumps in the melody is something I would never have considered. You’ve given structure and logic to this remarkably creative piece of music.

[DressedForDrowning]

Wonderful! Thanks for the insight. This is the 1st video that I have seen from you.

[vulkanosaure]

I always found Faure (and Ravel) to have a kind of antique sound, their harmonies evoke some middle age landscape to my mind, although the writing conventions they use are from a more modern era, so i never understood how they pull that off.

Maybe 2 good examples of that are this E minor on the 2nd variations of the first section, and the the E major in the middle section. Thanks for underlying that, this is really interesting.

(By the way I'm french, and you made me laugh with that "french flavoured cadence" ^^ i totally see how it fits with this stereotype of romantism. I think you got a lot of them in Carmen's most popular theme !)

[izolius]

Thanks for the video! Another analysis from you that inspires me to learn smth new on piano!

[dwdei]

Hello Mr Secrets, I was actively looking online for analysis of this exact piece (Fauré Pavane) and this was great. I have so many questions about it.
The biggie is - and I've found other forums online asking the same - "Why is Fauré's Pavane so damnably hard to memorise"? The answers are few and aren't all that instructive.
My memory's not brilliant, but I do have a Chopin Ballade and two Scherzos (Berceuse, couple of waltzes etc.) packed away in there, along with Ravel, Beethoven (etc., again) and a whole evening of jazz standards. Yet the Fauré Pavane has a uniquely slippery property to it that resists memorisation (for me).
The version I'm using is a bit more complicated than yours - it picks out a voice in the upper tenor notes which makes an extremely beautiful counterpoint - but that's also common in, say, Chopin.
For what sounds like such an innocent tune (it's like Greensleeves but in French), its harmonic complexity is very dense - shifts from major to minor, chromaticism. Is it that the superficial simplicity lulls me in to a kind of torpor of the concentration?

Very nice piano arrangement Henrik and I quite like your added notes to make it richer in the 2nd half. I suspect there is a typo on the score at measure 34, the first note in the bass should clearly be a C# not an E(#), just like in measure 9.
I am enjoying your videos so much I have subscribed on patreon : thanks!

[patriciaedwards]

Just beautiful! Do you offer an easier version of Faure's Pavane or a tutorial/analysis for the second portion?

[madcube]

Thank you for another beautiful analysis.
Do you plan to make videos of the full performance on your grand piano?
How about replaying some of the old songs you've already played on your new equipment? It sounds really good :3

[bbyng]

The major/minor interplay suggests reflective hope. It is in fact v Spanish. Your analysis is great. Thank you. The bare harmonies don't need padding though in order to appreciate the Moorish mood, which is probably fairly Spartan?