Great Composers: Gabriel Fauré

A look at the man who reformed the Paris Conservatoire.

This was a viewer request from YouTuber nick piano. If you've got a question or request for a future video, leave a comment, shoot me a message through YouTube, or use the email/Tumblr links below.

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Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.

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Music:

- Thomas Little: Dance! #2 in E minor, Op. 1 No. 2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette

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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

[henriklarsen]

Nice video. For me, Faure, is a hugely forgotten composer, who I hope one day will 'catch on' again. His music is very unique. He doesn't sound like anyone else. It is a haunting fantasy landscape, and that is special.

[lizzzzzzzzzzz]

the best thing about learning about composers is seeing how they all interacted and admired each other. thanks for this video i like knowing about the composer i am playing a piece from.

[christianlesniak]

Faure is my favorite composer (I always wonder what rock got in Poulenc's shoe about him), but I think the greatest of works are his chamber music, some of which reflects such a sunny outlook when he is younger, and then his later works have this great autumnal quality that seems to be looking forward to death (the depiction of a peaceful death is explicitly his aim in his genius Requiem from his early-middle period).

His piano writing in his quartets and especially quintets have this wonderful shimmering filigreed color to them, which to me is maybe a confirmation that he had a full palette without ever getting into timbral considerations of orchestrations. It's this unvirtousic piano writing that I think is the most consistent throughline in his work. The emotion that I think of his music often expressing is a turbulent sadness hiding under a a kind of resigned, stoic demeanor (that's my take anyway, but I wonder if Poulenc's objection was one of his own particular emotional temperament rejecting this outward reserve).

His austere quartet (which I didn't get it at first) reflects some practices of his late compositions, where he used greater interval leaps than in his early melodic writing, which featured a lot more movement among very close intervals, but it's interesting that he actually took a theme that he composed much earlier in his career from an unfinished violin concerto (a reconstructed version of which you can hear on Youtube - It's a puzzling work, and the material seems to work much better in the context of the quartet) and used it in the quartet, so it's not extremely far from his earlier work. It seems like eschews really traditional organizing structures in his music, and uses his modulations to develop motives. To me, it has this wonderfully organic internal logic to it, but I could see it being offputting to some who might resonate more with the very formal organizing structures of say, Cesar Franck.

[georgealderson]

Fauré's a jolly good fellow!
Fauré's a jolly good
fellow!
Fauré's a jolly good
fe..el..ow!
And so say all of us
as the song may have said! It seems appropriate that the tune is of French origin or so I understand
Blessings and peace sir.

[charlesdavis]

I really appreciate your brave attempts at pronouncing foreign words and names. Thanks.

[raminagrobis]

One of my preferred French composers of the Late Romantic period.

[simonward-horner]

An excellent little foray into the world of Faure. I've loved his music for a long time but knew nothing of his life, so, thanks. Time for a bit of Judas Priest now, man does not live on bread alone.

[riccardo]

Very interesting and sometimes humorous details about Faure's life. Merci beaucoups!

[SCRIABINIST]

Thank you very much for this. I did like Faure's music but never had the time to look into more of his personal life, which I discovered to be quite colourful and interesting. I subscribed for this, keep up the good work.

[jarodvmusic]

Great video, and video series! I'm glad you included the Frank Zappa one. I checked out the Trout Mask Replicas Album from that video and found it hilarious. My interpretation of it was almost making fun of several genres of music on a funny, not hostile way. While simultaneously breaking basically every "rule" of music. I've listened to the whole thing twice.

[williamthomas]

I heard Cicilienne in a movie soundtrack and searched it a year ago. It's just so touching. I know nothing to speak of of classical but Cicilienne seems intimate. There's a verity and purity in it that transcends words.

This lesson is much appreciated. I couldn't find another video like this. Yes, I could've Wikied but it's impersonal and I was really looking for some emoting.

Again, appreciated.

[evercallas]

Request: please PLEASE consider doing a video on a Cesar Franck!!!

[vaclavmiller]

Thanks, as always, for the great content. Is there a chance you could do a video about Martinů? Thanks

[jarodvmusic]

0:59 Could you tell me who that composer is that you named? I couldn't figure it out.

[authenticbaguette]

Don't forget, Pyotr called him "adorable" :P

[mrridikilis]

With regard to art song, I've always considered Faure the French Schubert.

[rad-guidance]

Djewels Massennette???!
Bon sang, c'est Jules Massenet, le 't' c'est muet...

En plus, vous dites "conservatoire" comme un fermier charentais, donc, pas d'excuses monsieur !