The Uniformity of Gabriel Fauré

Fauré in 1864

Gabriel Fauré is an extremely under-appreciated composer in my opinion. I would easily rank him among the top ten greatest composers of all time, and probably even the top five.

I have numerous reasons for this. First, his music has such a distinctive voice. Upon hearing a piece by Fauré, one instantly knows it is by Fauré. He is very unique and distinctive. The texture, structure, dynamics, emotion, and melody are all so distinctively charming and recognizable.

Another reason for which I consider Fauré to be one of history's greatest composers: his impeccable gift of conceiving melodies. One will instantly think of the 'Pie Jesu' or 'Libera Me Domine' from his Requiem, his Pavane, his Sicilienne, his 'Romances sans Paroles', Op. 17 (especially number 3), and his Barcarolles (especially the first, Op. 26). But the average listener knows little more about Fauré and his music. Like I said, he is, in my opinion, tragically under-appreciated composer. The majority of works by Fauré are little known to the majority of classical music listeners, and rarely see live performance anywhere. All of his works show the same taste for incredible melody as the ones mentioned above. Consider for instance his Nocturne No. 6 in D Flat from Opus 74, the frame work for a GORGEOUS melody is set in the beginning of the work, the matured theme which is based on this form comes later on. This melodious theme is an utterly beautiful and genius conception, and the way Fauré sets up the structure in the beginning and builds up to a flourishing maturation is as genius as the theme itself. (I should add, all of his Barcarolles and Nocturnes are genius masterpieces. Fauré never composed a single bad note in his entire life.)

Fauré around 1900

Another little known masterpiece (in fact far less known than the nocturne, one of the least known masterpieces in the entire history musical literature) is his opera, 'Pénélope'. This opera has only been recorded twice and has only been performed in the United States twice, ever. Performances in Europe are only slightly more common than here in the United States. But this opera is a gorgeous work, full of wonderful harmonic construction and development, development and maturation of motifs, gorgeous evolution and melody.

Still, the thing which strikes me as his strongest point, his most genius quality as a composer, more than any other advantage (and Fauré had no shortage of those!), is his unending uniformity. This uniformity between movements and works is astonishing, no other composer in history had such perfect and natural inter- and intra-work uniformity. Themes and motifs and structures and more are reused with again and again, each time with a different spin and overall meaning. This quality finds its epitome in Fauré's piano-chamber music: his Piano Trio, his two Piano Quartets, and his two Piano Quintets. The uniformity between the two Piano Quartets, I feel, is the strongest, but all five of these works are closely strung with genius and diverse uniformity. They are all a combined, continuous work, in my opinion. The Quartets and Second Quintet share a stronger connection to one another than they do the Piano Trio and first Quintet. Likewise the Trio and first Quintet share a stronger bond to one another than the Quartets and second Quintet. Still, all five are connected and bonded to each other. These chamber works are his greatest masterpiece in my opinion, and on top of that, among the greatest works of the entire literature.

Compare, for instance, these movements from his Piano Quartets:

Piano Quartet no. 1, Movement 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPZGPIdv07c

Piano Quartet no. 2, Movement 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCCsVp4pi8

Piano Quartet no. 1, Movement 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YKAgucdSC4

Piano Quartet no. 2, Movement 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7l5JPr-KN8

This inter- and intra-work thematic and structural uniformity and inter-work bondage is basically unparalleled anywhere in musical history.

Now consider the first movement of the Second Piano Quintet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyfPpwZe0_U

We hear a much more mature and earthy composition here (it was composed much later in his life than the two quartets), but the elements are still continued. The bond is still strong.

This phenomenon continues much further, and not just in these chamber works. I should add, his Piano Quartets and his Second Piano Quintet are among my favorite all time works. Every movement of these three chamber works is sublime, pure heaven. Take a listen to them in their entirities... absolutely gorgeous music. Absolutely genius music.

Fauré remains for me one of the greatest composers in history, and one of the greatest geniuses to ever walk this Earth.