by Mike Telin
HAPPENING TODAY:
Tonight at 7:30 pm, in Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center, Jakub Hrůša leads The Cleveland Orchestra in the first of four performances of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in a, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6. The playlist also includes Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Sheku Kanneh-Mason as soloist. The program is repeated on Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 8:00 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm. Click here to read a Preview article and here to purchase tickets.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Today we remember composer, organist, pianist and teacher Gabriel Fauré, who died in Paris on 4 November 1924 at the age of 79. Recognized as one of the most influential French composers of his time, his musical style inspired many 20th-century composers. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, describes him as the most advanced composer of his generation in France, and notes that his harmonic and melodic innovations influenced the teaching of harmony for later generations.
Born in Pamiers, Ariège, in the south of France on May 12, 1845, his musical talents were revealed while he was still a boy. As a nine-year-old he was sent to the Ecole Niedermeyer music college in Paris, where he was trained to be a church organist and choirmaster. It was there that he met Camille Saint-Saëns, who would become a lifelong friend.
Following his graduation Fauré earned his living as an organist and teacher — leaving him little time for composition. He would later hold the post as organist of the Église de la Madeleine and go on to become the director of the Paris Conservatoire.
Fauré was a founding member of the Société Nationale de Musique, formed in 1871 with the mission of promoting new French music. The membership included Romain Bussine, Saint-Saëns, Georges Bizet, Emmanuel Chabrier, Vincent d’Indy, Henri Duparc, César Franck, Édouard Lalo and Jules Massenet.
Maurice Ravel dedicated his String Quartet to Fauré, a respected teacher and mentor. Even after his retirement from the Conservatoire at the age of 75, he continually made himself available to young composers, including members of Les Six.
In a centenary tribute the musicologist Leslie Orrey wrote in The Musical Times that Fauré’s music is “More profound than Saint-Saëns, more varied than Lalo, more spontaneous than d’Indy, more classic than Debussy, Gabriel Fauré is the master par excellence of French music, the perfect mirror of our musical genius.”
Perhaps Fauré’s most well-known work is his Requiem Op.48. Click here to listen to Robert Shaw lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Judith Blegen (Soprano) and James Morris (Baritone).
