Interpreting The Songs Of Gabriel Faur

This reference book contains the complete literal translation and IPA transcription of Faure's Melodies, plus interpretation suggestions for each. Phonetic Alphabet for the language.

The career of Gabriel Faur‘s a composer of songs for voice and piano traverses six decades (1862-1921); almost the whole history of French m die is contained within these parameters. In the 1860s Faur the lifelong prot of Camille Saint-Sa was a suavely precocious student; he was part of Pauline Viardot's circle in the 1870s and he nearly married her daughter. Pointed in the direction of symbolist poetry by Robert de Montesquiou in 1886, Faur as the favoured composer from the early 1890s of Winnarretta Singer, later Princesse de Polignac, and his songs were revered by Marcel Proust. In 1905 he became director of the Paris Conservatoire, and he composed his most profound music in old age. His existence, steadily productive and outwardly imperturbable, was undermined by self-doubt, an unhappy marriage and a tragic loss of hearing. In this detailed study Graham Johnson places the vocal music within twin contexts: Faur own life story, and the parallel lives of his many poets. We encounter such giants as Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine, the patrician Leconte de Lisle, the forgotten Armand Silvestre and the Belgian symbolist Charles Van Lerberghe. The chronological range of the narrative encompasses Faur first poet, Victor Hugo, who railed against Napoleon III in the 1850s, and the last, Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, killed in action in the First World War. In this comprehensive and richly illustrated study each of Faur 109 songs receives a separate commentary. Additional chapters for the student singer and serious music lover discuss interpretation and performance in both aesthetical and practical terms. Richard Stokes provides parallel English translations of the original French texts. In the twenty-first century musical modernity is evaluated differently from the way it was assessed thirty years ago. Faur‘s no longer merely a 'Master of Charms' circumscribed by the belleque. His status as a great composer of timeless

The career of Gabriel Faur?s a composer of songs for voice and piano traverses six decades (1862-1921); almost the whole history of French m?die is contained within these parameters. In the 1860s Faur?the lifelong prot? of Camille Saint-Sa?, was a suavely precocious student; he was part of Pauline Viardot's circle in the 1870s and he nearly married her daughter. Pointed in the direction of symbolist poetry by Robert de Montesquiou in 1886, Faur?as the favoured composer from the early 1890s of Winnarretta Singer, later Princesse de Polignac, and his songs were revered by Marcel Proust. In 1905 he became director of the Paris Conservatoire, and he composed his most profound music in old age. His existence, steadily productive and outwardly imperturbable, was undermined by self-doubt, an unhappy marriage and a tragic loss of hearing. In this detailed study Graham Johnson places the vocal music within twin contexts: Faur? own life story, and the parallel lives of his many poets. We encounter such giants as Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine, the patrician Leconte de Lisle, the forgotten Armand Silvestre and the Belgian symbolist Charles Van Lerberghe. The chronological range of the narrative encompasses Faur? first poet, Victor Hugo, who railed against Napoleon III in the 1850s, and the last, Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, killed in action in the First World War. In this comprehensive and richly illustrated study each of Faur? 109 songs receives a separate commentary. Additional chapters for the student singer and serious music lover discuss interpretation and performance in both aesthetical and practical terms. Richard Stokes provides parallel English translations of the original French texts. In the twenty-first century musical modernity is evaluated differently from the way it was assessed thirty years ago. Faur?s no longer merely a 'Master of Charms' circumscribed by the belle ?que. His status as a great composer of timeless

First published in 2011, this research study includes a biography section as well as the works of Gabriel Urbain Fauré born on 12 May 1845. Much of Fauré’s music, especially the late pieces, remain little played and little known—as a result, his reputation as a salon composer of pleasant music continues even among educated musicians. The author suggests that it is more likely that the difficulty of much of Fauré’s music for the listener and the demands it places upon him or her are the principal reasons for its omission from concert programs and for a misunderstanding of Fauré’s place in the history of French music

This book traces Fauré's life and the rich cultural milieu in which he lived and worked.

Numbering more than 100 in total, and composed across a 60-year period, Gabriel Fauré's songs form the single most influential contribution to the field of French art song. Despite their importance, the songs have long been riddled with misprints and inconsistencies. This first complete critical edition is based on study of hundreds of manuscript and printed sources, along with evidence and interpretative advice from artists who worked with Fauré. Above all, it is a practical edition, informed by extensive work with musicians in performances, masterclasses and workshops. This second volume comprises the songs of Fauré's creative maturity, including popular favourites (Les Roses d'Ispahan, Clair de lune) alongside some lesser-known gems, together with his three vocal duets and the delightful four-voice Madrigal.

"The Pavane, the Sicilienne and a few other 'lollipops' are all that most people know of Fauré's music, apart from the ever-popular Requiem. But Gabriel Fauré was more than just a 'salon' composer--'the master of charms' Debussy called him--and his powerful wartime and final-period compositions in particular are often misunderstood. Although he lived through one of the most difficult and yet exciting periods for a musician--a period of rapid and often unexpected developments in the arts as a whole--yet he remained true to himself. The inspired professional musician of the nineteenth century developed into a 'classic' in the twentieth. The results of a great deal of research, carried out by the author and others, are included in this, the first major book on Fauré's life and music to appear in English for over thirty years. Dr Orledge comprehensively covers the whole of Fauré's extensive output, and deals in detail for the first time with the composer's manuscripts and notebooks. Copiously illustrated with plates and music-examples, this book will be essential reading for all concerned with the music of an unduly neglected French genius."--Back cover.

Carol Kimball's comprehensive survey of art song literature has been the principal one-volume American source on the topic. Now back in print after an absence of several years this newly revised edition includes biographies and discussions of the work of