Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré was a prominent French composer and pianist, recognized as one of the most significant figures in the evolution of French music during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born on May 12, 1845, in Pamiers, France, Fauré exhibited musical talent from an early age, leading to his education at the Niedermeyer School in Paris, where he studied under notable musicians and gained a strong foundation in both religious and secular music. His early compositions, including the acclaimed "Cantique de Jean Racine," set the stage for a prolific career.
Fauré's work not only encompassed church music but also explored new styles and influences, merging religious and secular themes. He played a vital role in the formation of the Société Nationale de Musique, which celebrated French instrumental music, and later served as the head of the Paris Conservatoire, where he implemented reforms that modernized music education in France. His notable works include the "Requiem" and the opera "Prométhée," both of which contributed significantly to his legacy.
Throughout his life, Fauré faced personal challenges, including hearing loss and health issues, yet he continued to inspire and mentor a new generation of musicians until his retirement in 1920. He passed away in 1924, leaving behind a lasting impact on classical music and culture. In 2024, events will commemorate the centennial of his death, highlighting his enduring influence.
Gabriel Fauré
Composer
- Born: May 12, 1845
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: Pamiers, Ariège, France
- Died: November 4, 1924
- Place of Death: Place of death: Paris, France
Education: Niedermeyer School
Significance: Gabriel Fauré was one of the most important French composers and pianists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His compositions broke new ground for French music, introducing new styles and influences. As a musical writer, performer, and teacher, Fauré inspired thousands of artists around the world. He died in 1924 as a much-celebrated cultural hero.
Background
Gabriel Fauré was born on May 12, 1845, in Pamiers, Ariège, France. He was the youngest of the six children of school headmaster Toussaint-Honoré Fauré and Marie Antoinette Helena Lalene-Laprade. As a boy, Fauré learned to play the harmonium, a type of small organ, in a church chapel next to his father's school. Noticing the boy's aptitude with the instrument, Toussaint-Honoré Fauré enrolled his son in the Niedermeyer School, a classical and religious musical academy in Paris. Fauré boarded at the school for eleven years, starting at the age of nine. He took general studies there as well as lessons in organ, harmony, religious music, and various musical elements such as fugue and counterpoint.
Fauré excelled at his lessons and studied under prominent musicians such as Louis Niedermeyer and Camille Saint-Saëns. Although the focus of his education was on religious organ and choral music, Fauré also learned about some of the prominent and influential secular classical artists of the day, including Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann. This range of influences inspired Fauré, and by the time he graduated in 1865, he had won many school awards and composed his first major work, the Cantique de Jean Racine.
A Career in Music
Fauré briefly accepted a position of church organist, but his path in life soon took some unexpected shifts. In August of 1870, he joined the Imperial Guard, a military unit, and served in several battles of the Franco-Prussian War. After the end of the war, he and a group of musician friends including Saint-Saëns, Ernest Guiraud, Henri Duparc, and Paul Taffanel formed the Société Nationale de Musique (National Society of Music), an organization dedicated to celebrating French instrumental music. This organization helped Fauré develop his talents as well as maneuver into the Paris musical and social scenes. During this time, Fauré held several short teaching and organist positions and took vacations to meet his musical heroes Franz Liszt and Robert Wagner.
By the late 1870s, Fauré had grown in prestige and confidence. He became choirmaster of the Church of the Madeleine in 1877, replacing Saint-Saëns in the role, and that same year, introduced his Violin Sonata to enthusiastic reviews. He continued composing music during the coming years while teaching and serving as choirmaster, and in 1888, introduced his Requiem, arguably the work that would define his career, to audiences. This was followed by many other important works, including the successful tragedy Prométhéein 1900, during a period when he split his time between France and England.
In 1896, Fauré accepted a teaching position at the prestigious French music school, the Paris Conservatoire. In fewer than ten years, he had become head of the school, replacing the more traditional and conservative Théodore Dubois. In this new position, Fauré instituted many reforms that brought him a reputation as a musical rebel, as well as the nickname "Robespierre"—a reference to a French revolutionary who oversaw the execution of his political enemies. Many of Fauré's reforms aimed to update the old-fashioned approaches of the conservatory, promote students based on merit, encourage young forward-thinking musicians, and embrace new ideas and styles, including those of other nations.
By 1909, Fauré had become a national figure and musical icon, and was chosen for the Institut de France, a society of the country's top academics and artists. Concurrent with his steadily increasing power in the musical world and the French national consciousness, Fauré began to experience hearing loss and then a host of other physical ailments. By the second decade of the twentieth century, he had become frail and sickly. He continued to teach at the conservatory, however, and spent his summers composing an array of new musical works, considered by many to be among his finest. He also inspired a new generation of French composers, including Jean Roger-Ducasse, George Enescu, Nadia Boulanger, and Charles Koechlin.
In 1920, Fauré was in poor health. He retired from his leadership of the Paris Conservatoire, although he continued to assist and advise several of his students and other French musicians. In 1922, in observance of his decades of contributions to French art and culture, Fauré was awarded one of the country's highest honors, the Grande Croix of the Légion d'Honneur. He died of pneumonia in 1924 as a national hero.
Impact
Gabriel Fauré had a significant influence on classical music. One of the greatest French composers, he was instrumental in merging religious and secular themes as well as introducing new influences and styles into France. His beautiful compositions captured the hearts of thousands of listeners and inspired a new generation of musicians in France and beyond.
To note the one hundredth anniversary of Fauré’s death in 2024, several universities in the United States, including New York University, Duke University, Princeton University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, planned events to honor the French composer.
Personal Life
Fauré married his wife, Marie Fremiet, in March 1883. The couple had two sons, Emmanuel and Philippe. Fauré engaged in a number of relationships with other women until the end of his life.
Bibliography
"Fauré, Gabriel Urbain (1845–1924)." Musicologie.org. 7 Aug. 2024, www.musicologie.org/Biographies/f/faure‗gabriel.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
"Gabriel Fauré Centenary." New York University, 23 Sept. 2024, as.nyu.edu/research-centers/maisonfrancaise/events/fall-2024/gabriel-faure-centenary.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
"Gabriel Fauré." San Francisco Classical Voice, www.sfcv.org/learn/composer-gallery/gabriel-faure. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
"Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)." Classical Net. 2024, www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/faure.phpt. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
"Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)." Naxos, www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Gabriel‗Faure/26049. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
Steen, Michael. The Lives and Times of the Great Composers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.