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143-518: Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor , Op . 48, between 1887 and 1890. The choral - orchestral setting of the shortened Catholic Mass for the Dead in Latin is the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré's reasons for composing the work are unclear, but do not appear to have had anything to do with the death of his parents in the mid-1880s. He composed

286-591: A Curtis-affiliated individual. Non-Curtis collections of published and unpublished materials, as well as published materials by anyone (Curtis-related or not), can be found in Special Collections. Official Curtis recordings are part of the library collection. The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at Curtis. Their faculty residency integrates teaching and mentorship, and

429-491: A burst of creativity and a new originality in his music, exemplified in the song cycle La bonne chanson . Fauré wrote the Dolly Suite for piano duet between 1894 and 1897 and dedicated it to Bardac's daughter Hélène, known as "Dolly". Some people suspected that Fauré was Dolly's father, but biographers including Nectoux and Duchen think it unlikely. Fauré's affair with Emma Bardac is thought to have begun after Dolly

572-420: A century. Copland considered Pénélope (1913) a fascinating work, and one of the best operas written since Wagner; he noted, however, that the music is, as a whole, "distinctly non-theatrical." The work uses leitmotifs , and the two main roles call for voices of heroic quality, but these are the only ways in which the work is Wagnerian. In Fauré's late style, "tonality is stretched hard, without breaking." On

715-528: A dark-hued sense of tragedy ... evident mainly in his songs of this period including L'Absent , Seule! and La Chanson du pêcheur ." When Fauré returned to Paris in October 1871, he was appointed choirmaster at the Église Saint-Sulpice under the composer and organist Charles-Marie Widor . In the course of his duties, he wrote several canticles and motets , few of which have survived. During some services, Widor and Fauré improvised simultaneously at

858-405: A few more times. The final call " Kyrie " appears pianissimo. The Offertoire begins in B minor with a canon of alto and tenor in short succession on a simple modal melody with little ambitus , in a prayer " O Domine, Jesu Christ, rex gloriae " (O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of Glory) to free the souls of the departed from eternal punishment and the deep lake, ending in unison. The sequence

1001-453: A firm grounding in the basic skills, which he was happy to delegate to his capable assistant André Gedalge . His own part came in helping them make use of these skills in the way that suited each student's talents. Roger-Ducasse later wrote, "Taking up whatever the pupils were working on, he would evoke the rules of the form at hand ... and refer to examples, always drawn from the masters." Ravel always remembered Fauré's open-mindedness as

1144-412: A friend and confidante, writing to her often – sometimes daily – when away from home, she did not share his passionate nature, which found fulfilment elsewhere. Fauré and his wife had two sons. The first, born in 1883, Emmanuel Fauré-Fremiet (Marie insisted on combining her family name with Fauré's), became a biologist of international reputation. The second son, Philippe, born in 1889, became

1287-479: A group of French musicians led by Saint-Saëns tried to organise a boycott of German music, Fauré and Messager dissociated themselves from the idea, though the disagreement did not affect their friendship with Saint-Saëns. Fauré did not recognise nationalism in music, seeing in his art "a language belonging to a country so far above all others that it is dragged down when it has to express feelings or individual traits that belong to any particular nation." Nonetheless, he

1430-638: A hotel, usually by one of the Swiss lakes, to concentrate on composition. His works from this period include his lyric opera, Pénélope (1913), and some of his most characteristic later songs (e.g., the cycle La chanson d'Ève , Op. 95, completed in 1910) and piano pieces (Nocturnes Nos. 9–11; Barcarolles Nos. 7–11, written between 1906 and 1914). Fauré was elected to the Institut de France in 1909, after his father-in-law and Saint-Saëns, both long-established members, had canvassed strongly on his behalf. He won

1573-410: A kind of serenity, without losing any of his remarkable spiritual vitality, but rather removed from the sensualism and the passion of the works he wrote between 1875 and 1895." In his last months, Fauré struggled to complete his String Quartet . Twenty years earlier he had been the dedicatee of Ravel's String Quartet. Ravel and others urged Fauré to compose one of his own. He refused for many years, on

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1716-423: A man present at a concert of his own works and able to hear not a single note. He sat gazing before him pensively, and, in spite of everything, grateful and content." Fauré suffered from poor health in his later years, brought on in part by heavy smoking. Despite this, he remained available to young composers, including members of Les Six , most of whom were devoted to him. Nectoux writes, "In old age he attained

1859-411: A means to another end. In an official statement, Bok wrote about the goals and expectations of the institution: “It is my aim that earnest students shall acquire a thorough musical education not learning only to sing or play, but also the history of music, the laws of its making, languages, ear training and musical appreciation. They shall learn to think and to express their thoughts against a background of

2002-483: A member of the older one and continued on the best of terms with d'Indy; his sole concern was the fostering of new music. In 1911 he oversaw the Conservatoire's move to new premises in the rue de Madrid. During this time, Fauré developed serious problems with his hearing. Not only did he start to go deaf, but sounds became distorted, so that high and low notes sounded painfully out of tune to him. The turn of

2145-521: A mixed choir and a female soprano soloist, partly because the soprano lines, particularly the solo in the Pie Jesu , are difficult to sing and demand excellent breath control, easier for adult women than for boys. At the end of the 1890s Fauré's publisher, Julien Hamelle , suggested that the composer should rescore the Requiem for performance in concert halls. The intimate sound of the earlier versions

2288-466: A more harmonically and melodically complex style. Fauré was born into a cultured but not especially musical family. His talent became clear when he was a young boy. At the age of nine, he was sent to the École Niedermeyer music college in Paris, where he was trained to be a church organist and choirmaster. Among his teachers was Camille Saint-Saëns , who became a lifelong friend. After graduating from

2431-482: A number of song cycles . Cinq mélodies "de Venise" , Op. 58 (1891), was described by Fauré as a novel kind of song suite , in its use of musical themes recurring over the cycle. For the later cycle La bonne chanson , Op. 61 (1894), there were five such themes, according to Fauré. He also wrote that La bonne chanson was his most spontaneous composition, with Emma Bardac singing back to him each day's newly written material. Among later works were cycles drawn from

2574-417: A painful experience. The music of Gounod has been criticised for its inclination towards human tenderness. But his nature predisposed him to feel this way: religious emotion took this form inside him. Is it not necessary to accept the artist's nature? As to my Requiem, perhaps I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on

2717-536: A performance at the Madeleine in May 1888 Fauré added horn and trumpet parts. Fauré continued to work intermittently on the Requiem, and by 1893 he judged the score ready to be published (although the proposed publication fell through). Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the score as it was in 1893. The Fauré specialist Jean-Michel Nectoux began working on it in the 1970s, but the first edition to be published

2860-516: A piece, and with a sustained intensity of mood which made it like a single thought". In a 2011 article the pianist and writer Roy Howat and the musicologist Emily Kilpatrick wrote: His devotion to the mélodie spans his career, from the ever-fresh "Le papillon et la fleur" of 1861 to the masterly cycle L'horizon chimérique , composed sixty years and more than a hundred songs later. Fauré's songs are now core repertoire for students and professionals, sung in conservatories and recital halls throughout

3003-524: A prestigious and remunerative commission to write an opera with lyrics by Paul Verlaine was aborted by the poet's drunken inability to deliver a libretto. Fauré was plunged into so deep a depression that his friends were seriously concerned about his health. Winnaretta de Scey-Montbéliard , always a good friend to Fauré, invited him to Venice , where she had a palazzo on the Grand Canal . He recovered his spirits and began to compose again, writing

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3146-430: A quiet culture, with the stimulus of personal contact with artist teachers who represent the highest and finest in their art. The aim is for quality of the work rather than quick, showy results.” When the institute opened, it included two distinct divisions: a preparatory division for 400 students and a conservatory for 200 students. Tuition was five hundred dollars, and the school opened with 357 students. Mary Bok became

3289-576: A real gentleman – the highest kind of Frenchman and I admired him greatly." Elgar tried to get Fauré's Requiem put on at the Three Choirs Festival , but it did not finally have its English premiere until 1937, nearly fifty years after its first performance in France. Composers from other countries also loved and admired Fauré. In the 1880s Tchaikovsky had thought him "adorable"; Albéniz and Fauré were friends and correspondents until

3432-508: A song, and Fauré received no royalties. During this period, he wrote several large-scale works, in addition to many piano pieces and songs, but he destroyed most of them after a few performances, only retaining a few movements in order to re-use motifs. Among the works surviving from this period is the Requiem , begun in 1887 and revised and expanded, over the years, until its final version dating from 1901. After its first performance, in 1888,

3575-437: A teacher. Having received Ravel's String Quartet with less than his usual enthusiasm, Fauré asked to see the manuscript again a few days later, saying, "I could have been wrong". The musicologist Henry Prunières wrote, "What Fauré developed among his pupils was taste, harmonic sensibility, the love of pure lines, of unexpected and colorful modulations; but he never gave them [recipes] for composing according to his style and that

3718-522: A teaching post at the École Niedermeyer, which had temporarily relocated there to avoid the violence in Paris. His first pupil at the school was André Messager , who became a lifelong friend and occasional collaborator. Fauré's compositions from this period did not overtly reflect the turmoil and bloodshed. Some of his colleagues, including Saint-Saëns, Gounod and Franck , produced elegies and patriotic odes. Fauré did not, but according to his biographer Jessica Duchen , his music acquired "a new sombreness,

3861-488: A training ground for orchestral musicians to fill the ranks of the Philadelphia Orchestra , although composers , organists , pianists , guitarists , and singers are offered courses of study as well. With the exception of composers, conductors, pianists, organists, and guitarists, admission is granted only to the number of students to fill a single orchestra and opera company. Accordingly, enrollment

4004-400: A very simple rising and falling melody of only three notes, which the male voices repeat, accompanied by arpeggios on the harp and a dreamy rising melody in the violins (sometimes just a solo violin). The pattern appears several times, with the melodies increasing in ambitus , and the volume reaching forte on " excelsis " (the highest). The orchestra changes tone, the dreamy accompaniment

4147-477: A writer; his works included histories, plays, and biographies of his father and grandfather. Contemporary accounts agree that Fauré was extremely attractive to women; in Duchen's phrase, "his conquests were legion in the Paris salons." After a romantic attachment to the singer Emma Bardac from around 1892, followed by another to the composer Adela Maddison , in 1900 Fauré met the pianist Marguerite Hasselmans,

4290-758: Is Koine Greek . As had become customary, Fauré did not set the Gradual and Tract sections of the Mass. He followed a French Baroque tradition by not setting the Requiem sequence (the Dies irae ), only its section Pie Jesu . He slightly altered the texts of the Introit , the Kyrie , Pie Jesu , Agnus Dei , and In Paradisum , but substantially changed the text of the Offertory (described below). He did not set

4433-404: Is expressed by fortissimo chords, giving way to the prayer for rest in the same motion, but piano, with a crescendo on " dona eis, Domine ", but suddenly softening on a last " et lux perpetua luceat eis ". Then the choir repeats the opening statement of the baritone fully in unison. Soloist, then choir, end the movement softly, repeating " Libera me, Domine ". The text of the last movement

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4576-515: Is in the range of 150 to 175 students. According to statistics compiled by the U.S. News & World Report , the institute has the lowest acceptance rate of any college or university (4 percent), making it among the most selective institutions of higher education in the United States. Nina Simone claimed her application for a scholarship was rejected because of her race, despite her excellent credentials and audition performance. Simone

4719-468: Is not clear whether the composer favoured either version over the other. Blyth comments "All of his comments about the Requiem ring truer as descriptions of the 1888 and 1894 [ sic ] versions than of the published text of 1901". Fauré, however, complained in 1921 that the orchestra at a performance of the work had been too small, and commented to Eugène Ysaÿe on the "angelic" violins during the Sanctus in

4862-456: Is often combined in recordings and concert performances with Fauré's early Cantique de Jean Racine , an award-winning composition originally for choir and organ which the composer wrote aged 19 in his last year of ten years at the school of church music École Niedermeyer de Paris . Notes References Gabriel Faur%C3%A9 Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924)

5005-560: Is repeated beginning one step higher for the next line, and again one step higher for the following more urgent call to Jesus, enforced by the basses. The voices add only softly, broken by rests, what the prayer is about: " ne cadant – in obscurum " (that they may not fall into the darkness). The baritone enters with " Hostias et preces ", offerings brought with praises, beginning on one repeated note, but asking with more melody " fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam " (make them, Lord, transcend from death to life). The choir repeats

5148-452: Is replaced by firm and powerful major chords with a horn fanfare marked forte, and the male voices declare " Hosanna in excelsis " (praise in the highest). This is answered by the sopranos in diminuendo , and the music softens and reverts to the dreamy harp arpeggios that it began with as the violin melody floats upwards to the final note in E-flat major and the full choir repeats, helped by

5291-513: Is taken from the Order of Burial . " In paradisum deducant angeli " (May angels lead you to paradise) rests on a continuous shimmering motion in fast broken triads in the orchestra. The sopranos sing a rising expressive melody, enriched by chords of the other voices, divided in six parts, on the final "Jerusalem". A second thought is again sung by the sopranos, filled on the last words by the others: Requiem aeternam . Fauré revised and enlarged

5434-579: Is to: provide Curtis students, faculty, and staff with the best possible collection of printed music, books, periodicals, recordings, and electronic resources needed to fulfill the school's mission; promote the Rock Resource Center's holdings through forward thinking and open patron service; and preserve and make Curtis’s past accessible to the greater Curtis community. The Curtis Archives comprises largely unpublished materials whose value derives from its collection by, ownership of, or relation to,

5577-661: Is used for weekly student recitals, faculty and alumni concerts, master classes, and recording sessions. It also houses a 5-manual, 116-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ. The Rock Resource Center of the Curtis Institute of Music contains more than 100,000 music scores, books, and recordings for study and performance. Comprising the John de Lancie Library and the Curtis Archives, the Rock Resource Center’s mission

5720-567: Is why they all sought and found their own paths in many different, and often opposed, directions." Fauré's works of the last years of the century include incidental music for the English premiere of Maurice Maeterlinck 's Pelléas et Mélisande (1898) and Prométhée , a lyric tragedy composed for the amphitheatre at Béziers . Written for outdoor performance, the work is scored for huge instrumental and vocal forces. Its premiere in August 1900

5863-460: The Benedictus (the conclusion of the Sanctus ), and added two texts from the Order of Burial , Libera me and In Paradisum . Fauré made changes to the text of the Offertory ; at the beginning, he adds an "O". He changed " libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum " ("deliver the souls of all the faithful departed") to simply " libera animas defunctorum " ("deliver the souls of

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6006-532: The Dolly Suite and, together with his friend and former pupil André Messager , an exuberant parody of Wagner in the short suite Souvenirs de Bayreuth . The piano works often use arpeggiated figures, with the melody interspersed between the two hands, and include finger substitutions natural for organists. These aspects make them daunting for some pianists. Even a virtuoso like Liszt said that he found Fauré's music hard to play. The early piano works are clearly influenced by Chopin. An even greater influence

6149-477: The Libera me , which, like Verdi , he added to the normal liturgical text. Fauré revised the Requiem over the years, and a number of different performing versions are now in use, from the earliest, for small forces, to the final revision with full orchestra. Fauré's operas have not found a place in the regular repertoire. Prométhée is the more neglected of the two, with only a handful of performances in more than

6292-484: The Passy Cemetery in Paris. After Fauré's death, the Conservatoire abandoned his radicalism and became resistant to new trends in music, with Fauré's own harmonic practice being held up as the farthest limit of modernity, beyond which students should not go. His successor, Henri Rabaud , director of the Conservatoire from 1922 to 1941, declared "modernism is the enemy". The generation of students born between

6435-679: The atonal music of Schoenberg , and, later still, drew discreetly on the techniques of jazz. Duchen writes that early works such as the Cantique de Jean Racine are in the tradition of French nineteenth-century romanticism, yet his late works are as modern as any of the works of his pupils. Influences on Fauré, particularly in his early work, included not only Chopin but Mozart and Schumann. The authors of The Record Guide (1955), Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor , wrote that Fauré learnt restraint and beauty of surface from Mozart, tonal freedom and long melodic lines from Chopin, "and from Schumann,

6578-559: The liturgy of the funeral Mass but of the burial . Fauré wrote of the work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest." The piece premiered in its first version in 1888 in La Madeleine in Paris for a funeral Mass. A performance takes about 35 minutes. Fauré's reasons for composing his Requiem are uncertain. One possible impetus may have been

6721-481: The modernism of the second quarter of the 20th century. When he was born, Chopin was still composing, and by the time of Fauré's death, jazz and the atonal music of the Second Viennese School were being heard. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which describes him as the most advanced composer of his generation in France, notes that his harmonic and melodic innovations influenced

6864-521: The treble soloist was Louis Aubert . In 1889, Fauré added the Hostias portion of the Offertory and in 1890 he expanded the Offertory and added the 1877 Libera me . This second version was premiered on 21 January 1893, again at the Madeleine with Fauré conducting. The church authorities allowed no female singers and insisted on boy treble and alto choristers and soloists; Fauré composed

7007-481: The war years . This focus caused a shift away from orchestra , opera , and chamber music and a reduction of the instrumental faculty. Due to the war, enrollment decreased from 223 in 1937 to 100 in 1942. In 1944, the Curtis Alumni Association established a concert office to assist graduates in their professions. In 2020, following credible allegations of abuse at the hands of past faculty,

7150-429: The École Niedermeyer de Paris , which Louis Niedermeyer was setting up in Paris. After reflecting for a year, Fauré's father agreed and took the nine-year-old boy to Paris in October 1854. Helped by a scholarship from the bishop of his home diocese, Fauré boarded at the school for 11 years. The régime was austere, the rooms gloomy, the food mediocre, and the required uniform elaborate. The musical tuition, however,

7293-607: The 20th century saw a rise in the popularity of Fauré's music in Britain, and to a lesser extent in Germany, Spain and Russia. He visited England frequently, and an invitation to play at Buckingham Palace in 1908 opened many other doors in London and beyond. He was in London for the premiere of Elgar 's First Symphony in 1908 and dined with the composer. Elgar later wrote to their mutual friend Frank Schuster that Fauré "was such

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7436-561: The Curtis Institute on April 18, 1924, which opened in October 1925 on three mansions on 1727 and 1720 Locust Street and 235 South 18th Street. Both the Curtis Institute and the Settlement Music School shared a building at Queen Street in South Philadelphia for the first year. Bok established the institute to train talented musicians for professional careers and to teach music for its own sake and not as

7579-637: The Grand-Croix of the Légion d'honneur , an honour rare for a musician. In 1922 the president of the republic, Alexandre Millerand , led a public tribute to Fauré, a national hommage , described in The Musical Times as "a splendid celebration at the Sorbonne , in which the most illustrious French artists participated, [which] brought him great joy. It was a poignant spectacle, indeed: that of

7722-507: The Kyrie and Sanctus ), three trombones, timpani (only in the Libera me ), harp, organ, strings (with only a single section of violins, but divided violas and cellos, as before). Nectoux has expressed the view that what he terms the "church" (1893) and the "concert" (1900–1901) versions of the Requiem should both be performed, the choice of edition being dictated by the size of the venue. It

7865-622: The Madeleine for the funeral of the architect Joseph Lesoufaché. This version lacked the Offertoire and Libera me , which Fauré added at some time in the following decade. The Libera me predates the rest of the Requiem, having been composed eleven years earlier as a baritone solo. The forces required for the original 1888 version were a choir about forty in number consisting of boys and men (the Madeleine did not admit female choristers), solo boy treble, harp, timpani, organ, strings (solo violin, divided violas, divided cellos and basses). For

8008-607: The Madeleine. Dubois' move had further repercussions: Massenet , professor of composition at the Conservatoire, had expected to succeed Thomas, but had overplayed his hand by insisting on being appointed for life. He was turned down, and when Dubois was appointed instead, Massenet resigned his professorship in fury. Fauré was appointed in his place. He taught many young composers, including Maurice Ravel , Florent Schmitt , Charles Koechlin , Louis Aubert , Jean Roger-Ducasse , George Enescu , Paul Ladmirault , Alfredo Casella and Nadia Boulanger . In Fauré's view, his students needed

8151-454: The Nectoux and Delage edition, Thomson wrote of "several pleasant surprises [including] the restoration of the urgent timpani rolls underlining 'Christe eleison', and the ethereal harp chords which so enhance the spiritual atmosphere of 'Lux aeterna'". For the 1893 version a baritone solo, two bassoons, four horns and two trumpets are added to the original scoring. When possible Fauré employed

8294-408: The Requiem in the years between its first performance in 1888 and the publication of the final version in 1901. The latter is scored for full orchestra; since the 1970s attempts have been made by several Fauré scholars to reconstruct the composer's earlier versions, scored for smaller orchestral forces. Five of the seven sections of the Requiem were completed by January 1888 and performed that month at

8437-406: The United States or Europe. The new funds further allowed all students to study at Curtis at no cost. Since 1928, the institute has not charged tuition; it provides full scholarships to all admitted students. Instead, students pay comprehensive fees and other additional fees to cover the cost of maintaining buildings, health insurance, meal plans, a library fee, and a graduation fee. As of fall 2023,

8580-541: The ballot by a narrow margin, with 18 votes against 16 for the other candidate, Widor . In the same year a group of young composers led by Ravel and Koechlin broke with the Société Nationale de Musique, which under the presidency of Vincent d'Indy had become a reactionary organisation, and formed a new group, the Société musicale indépendante . While Fauré accepted the presidency of this society, he also remained

8723-408: The biographer Jean-Michel Nectoux , the Fauré family dates to the 13th century in that part of France. The family had at one time been substantial landowners, but by the 19th century its means had become reduced. The composer's paternal grandfather, Gabriel, was a butcher whose son became a schoolmaster. In 1829 Fauré's parents married. His mother was the daughter of a minor member of the nobility. He

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8866-465: The choir in movements 2 and 6, the soprano in a central movement, movement 4 in Fauré, movement 5 in Brahms where she appears with the choir. In both works, the four remaining movements are sung by the choir alone, whereas Verdi, for example, has the soloists sing several arias and ensembles in his Requiem . Similar to Mozart's Requiem , the work begins slowly in D minor . After one measure of just D in

9009-458: The choir, divided in six parts, lets that light shimmer. The choir closes with a reprise of the Introit, the opening of the Mass ("Requiem aeternam"), before the orchestra picks up the " Agnus Dei " melody to close the movement. The baritone soloist sings the first section alone. On a bass in an ostinato rhythm of two quarter notes, a rest and the upbeat to the next two quarters, he sings

9152-749: The church's two organs, trying to catch each other out with sudden changes of key. Fauré regularly attended Saint-Saëns's musical salons and those of Pauline Viardot , to whom Saint-Saëns introduced him. Fauré was a founding member of the Société Nationale de Musique , formed in February 1871 under the joint chairmanship of Romain Bussine and Saint-Saëns, to promote new French music. Other members included Georges Bizet , Emmanuel Chabrier , Vincent d'Indy , Henri Duparc , César Franck, Édouard Lalo and Jules Massenet . Fauré became secretary of

9295-654: The classical theory of Rameau , no longer outlawing certain chords as " dissonant ". By using unresolved mild discords and colouristic effects, Fauré anticipated the techniques of Impressionist composers. In contrast with his harmonic and melodic style, which pushed the bounds for his time, Fauré's rhythmic motives tended to be subtle and repetitive, with little to break the flow of the line, although he used discreet syncopations, similar to those found in Brahms 's works. Copland referred to him as "the Brahms of France". The music critic Jerry Dubins suggests that Fauré "represents

9438-492: The college in 1865, Fauré earned a modest living as an organist and teacher, leaving him little time for composition. When he became successful in his middle age, holding the important posts of organist of the Église de la Madeleine and director of the Paris Conservatoire , he still lacked time for composing; he retreated to the countryside in the summer holidays to concentrate on composition. By his last years, he

9581-509: The comprehensive fee for Curtis is $ 3,500, and the health insurance fee, which can be waived if a parental health insurance plan provides adequate protection, of $ 2,500. With the new endowment, the school purchased several Steinway pianos and enough instruments for an orchestra so that students would not have to pay for instruments. The school faced financial difficulties in the 1930s, decreased enrollment, and had to remove some departments and reduce salaries. Josef Hoffman resigned in 1938 and

9724-650: The conservatory’s first president, a position she would hold until 1969. Johann Grolle served as the first school director for one year, William E. Walter became director in 1925 and Josef Hofmann , head of the piano department, became director in 1927. The institute added a library in 1925 with over 5,000 volumes. Other notable original faculty included conductor Leopold Stokowski , violinist Carl Flesch , pianists David Saperton and Isabelle Vengerova , singers Marcella Sembrich and Andreas Dippel , cellist Michel Penha , and flutist William Kincaid . Under Josef Hofmann as director, Curtis made several new changes to advance

9867-450: The country and broadcast the orchestra on the radio. The school held its first commencement a decade after opening, awarding Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Starting in the late 1920s, Curtis made significant changes to fully support students financially. In 1928, Mrs. Louis Bok expanded the school's first endowment of $ 500,000 to $ 12.5 million. The school started providing summer residency programs for advanced students in

10010-462: The daughter of Alphonse Hasselmans . This led to a relationship which lasted for the rest of Fauré's life. He maintained her in a Paris apartment, and she acted openly as his companion. To support his family, Fauré spent most of his time in running the daily services at the Madeleine and giving piano and harmony lessons. His compositions earned him a negligible amount, because his publisher bought them outright, paying him an average of 60 francs for

10153-441: The death of his father in 1885, and his mother's death two years later, on New Year's Eve 1887. However, by the time of his mother's death he had already begun the work, about which he later declared, "My Requiem wasn't written for anything – for pleasure, if I may call it that!" The earliest composed music included in the Requiem is the Libera me , which Fauré wrote in 1877 as an independent work. In 1887–88, Fauré composed

10296-507: The decades of his career, and display the change in his style from uncomplicated youthful charm to a final enigmatic, but sometimes fiery introspection, by way of a turbulent period in his middle years. His other notable piano pieces, including shorter works, or collections composed or published as a set, are Romances sans paroles , Ballade in F ♯ major, Mazurka in B ♭ major, Thème et variations in C ♯ minor, and Huit pièces brèves . For piano duet , Fauré composed

10439-421: The departed"). He replaced " Libera eas " ("Deliver them") at the beginning of the next verse with a repetition of " O Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, libera animas defunctorum ", and he omitted the third verse (beginning " Sed signifer sanctus ... "). He concludes with an added "Amen". The composition is structured in seven movements : The piece has a duration of about 35 minutes. Fauré scored

10582-420: The earliest works, and traces of the early Fauré in the works of his old age: "The themes, harmonies, form, have remained essentially the same, but with each new work they have all become more fresh, more personal, more profound." When Fauré was born, Berlioz and Chopin were still composing; the latter was among Fauré's early influences. In his later years Fauré developed compositional techniques that foreshadowed

10725-401: The end to complete it. The quartet was premiered after his death; he declined an offer to have it performed privately for him in his last days, as his hearing had deteriorated to the point where musical sounds were horribly distorted in his ear. Fauré died in Paris from pneumonia on 4 November 1924 at the age of 79. He was given a state funeral at the Église de la Madeleine and is buried in

10868-407: The first and leads again to alternating between two notes in even lower range, until the last "requiem" has a gentle upward motion. "Agnus Dei", in many settings of Mass and Requiem set with dark expression, begins in F major with a fluent expansive melody in the orchestra. After six measures, the tenors sing a melody to it that gently rises and falls, and repeats it almost the same way. Then, while

11011-417: The first line of the text on the same motif as in the beginning, but in more elaborate polyphony in four parts, concluded by an uplifting Amen in B major . Sanctus (Holy), in contrast with other compositions of Mass and Requiem where it is often illustrated with great vocal and instrumental forces (particularly Verdi's Requiem ), is here expressed in extremely simple form. The sopranos sing softly in

11154-429: The first of his five Mélodies de Venise , to words by Verlaine, whose poetry he continued to admire despite the operatic debacle. About this time, or shortly afterwards, Fauré's liaison with Emma Bardac began; in Duchen's words, "for the first time, in his late forties, he experienced a fulfilling, passionate relationship which extended over several years". His principal biographers all agree that this affair inspired

11297-408: The first version of the work, which he called " un petit Requiem " with five movements ( Introit and Kyrie , Sanctus , Pie Jesu , Agnus Dei and In Paradisum ), but did not include his Libera me . This version was first performed on 16 January 1888 for the funeral of Joseph Lesoufaché, an architect, at La Madeleine, Paris . The composer conducted his work;

11440-474: The former's early death in 1909; Richard Strauss sought his advice; and in Fauré's last years, the young American Aaron Copland was a devoted admirer. The outbreak of the First World War almost stranded Fauré in Germany, where he had gone for his annual composing retreat. He managed to get from Germany into Switzerland, and thence to Paris. He remained in France for the duration of the war. When

11583-476: The full orchestral version. The Requiem was first recorded in 1931, by Fanny Malnory-Marseillac, soprano; Louis Morturier, baritone; the Choeur de la Société Bach and Orchestre Alexandre Cellier, conducted by Gustav Bret. It was first issued on the "Gramophone" label, and reissued in 1934 on HMV . That recording used the full 1900 orchestrations, as did all others except one over the next half century. The exception

11726-434: The grounds that it was too difficult. When he finally decided to write it, he did so in trepidation, telling his wife, "I've started a Quartet for strings, without piano. This is a genre which Beethoven in particular made famous, and causes all those who are not Beethoven to be terrified of it." He worked on the piece for a year, finishing it on 11 September 1924, less than two months before he died, working long hours towards

11869-521: The impression of several tonal centres simultaneously employed." Fauré is regarded as one of the masters of the French art song, or mélodie . Ravel wrote in 1922 that Fauré had saved French music from the dominance of the German Lied . Two years later the critic Samuel Langford wrote of Fauré, "More surely almost than any writer in the world he commanded the faculty to create a song all of

12012-442: The instrument. He was renowned for his improvisations, and Saint-Saëns said of him that he was "a first class organist when he wanted to be". Fauré preferred the piano to the organ, which he played only because it gave him a regular income. Duchen speculates that he positively disliked the organ, possibly because "for a composer of such delicacy of nuance, and such sensuality, the organ was simply not subtle enough." The year 1877

12155-402: The instruments, the choir enters pianissimo in six parts on the D minor chord and stays on it in homophony for the entire text " Requiem aeternam " (eternal rest). In gradual progression of harmony and a sudden crescendo , a first climax is reached on " et lux perpetua " (and lasting light), diminishing on a repeated " luceat eis " (may shine for them). The tenors repeat

12298-411: The irreverent Souvenirs de Bayreuth . This short, up-tempo piano work for four hands sends up themes from The Ring . Fauré admired Wagner and had a detailed knowledge of his music, but he was one of the few composers of his generation not to come under Wagner's musical influence. In 1883 Fauré married Marie Fremiet, the daughter of a leading sculptor, Emmanuel Fremiet . Nectoux comments that Marie

12441-459: The later piano works, which express "such private passion and isolation, such alternating anger and resignation" that listeners are left uneasy. In his piano music, as in most of his works, Fauré shunned virtuosity in favour of the classical lucidity often associated with the French. He was unimpressed by purely virtuoso pianists, saying, "the greater they are, the worse they play me." Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music

12584-764: The lessons to run over, he would go to the piano and reveal to us those works of the masters from which the rigorous classical nature of our programme of study kept us at a distance and who, moreover, in those far-off years, were scarcely known. ... At the time I was 15 or 16, and from this time dates the almost filial attachment ... the immense admiration, the unceasing gratitude I [have] had for him, throughout my life." Saint-Saëns took great pleasure in his pupil's progress, which he helped whenever he could; Nectoux comments that at each step in Fauré's career "Saint-Saëns's shadow can effectively be taken for granted." The close friendship between them lasted until Saint-Saëns died sixty years later. Fauré won many prizes while at

12727-471: The link between the late German Romanticism of Brahms ... and the French Impressionism of Debussy." To Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, Fauré's later works do not display the easy charm of his earlier music: "the luscious romantic harmony which had always been firmly supported by a single tonality , later gave way to a severely monochrome style, full of enharmonic shifts, and creating

12870-402: The liturgical nature of the work, boy trebles are often used instead of sopranos. The structure of Fauré's work bears striking similarity to that of Ein deutsches Requiem by Brahms , although Fauré set Latin liturgical texts to music, whereas Brahms chose German Bible quotations. Both works have seven movements, both employ a baritone and a soprano soloist, the baritone singing with

13013-504: The many misprints in the 1901 edition. Alan Blyth speculates that the work may have been done by someone in Hamelle's firm. The misprints have been corrected in later editions, notably those by Roger Fiske and Paul Inwood (1978) and Nectoux (2001). The orchestration of the final version comprises mixed choir, solo soprano, solo baritone, two flutes, two clarinets (only in the Pie Jesu ), two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets (only in

13156-466: The motion in the orchestra stays the same, the key changes to the minor mode, and the Lamb of God is asked for rest in chords of daring harmonic progression. Then the tenors, without instrumental introduction, repeat the first line, leading to a peaceful " sempiternam ". The sopranos alone begins the following section " Lux aeterna luceat eis " (Light eternal shine for them) with a long " Lux ", then

13299-399: The old guard as he modernised and broadened the range of music taught at the Conservatoire. As Nectoux puts it, "where Auber , Halévy and especially Meyerbeer had reigned supreme ... it was now possible to sing an aria by Rameau or even some Wagner – up to now a forbidden name within the Conservatoire's walls". The curriculum was broadened to range from Renaissance polyphony to

13442-581: The organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different. In 1924 the Requiem, in its full orchestral version, was performed at Fauré's own funeral. It was not performed in the United States until 1931, at a student concert at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. It was first performed in England in 1936. Most of the text is in Latin , except for the Kyrie , which

13585-675: The organ, with the altos finally joining: " Sanctus ". The solo soprano (or treble) sings the prayer to the "good Jesus" for everlasting rest. The one line of text is repeated three times, the first two times asking for "requiem" (rest), then intensified for "sempiternam requiem" (everlasting rest). The first call is a modal melody in B-flat major of six measures, the second call is similar but reaching up higher. The words " Dona eis, Domine, dona eis requiem " begin with more expansion, but reach alternating between only two notes on two repetitions of " sempiternam requiem ". The last call begins as

13728-423: The original 1888 manuscript. The new score was published in 1901 at the same time as a vocal score edited by one of Fauré's favourite pupils, Jean Roger-Ducasse , and some critics have speculated that he reorchestrated the full score at Fauré's instigation. Others have questioned whether so skilled an orchestrator as Roger-Ducasse would have "perpetrated such pointlessly inconspicuous doublings", or left uncorrected

13871-613: The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 he volunteered for military service. He took part in the action to raise the siege of Paris , and saw action at Le Bourget , Champigny and Créteil . He was awarded a Croix de Guerre . After France's defeat by Prussia , there was a brief, bloody conflict within Paris from March to May 1871 during the Commune . Fauré escaped to Rambouillet where one of his brothers lived, and then travelled to Switzerland, where he took up

14014-469: The perfect mirror of our musical genius.' Perhaps, when English musicians get to know his work better, these words of Roger-Ducasse will seem, not over-praise, but no more than his due." Aaron Copland wrote that although Fauré's works can be divided into the usual "early", "middle" and "late" periods, there is no such radical difference between his first and last manners as is evident with many other composers. Copland found premonitions of late Fauré in even

14157-470: The poems of Charles van Lerberghe , La chanson d'Ève (1910) and Le jardin clos (1914). The Requiem , Op. 48, first performed in 1888, was not composed to the memory of a specific person but, in Fauré's words, "for the pleasure of it." It has been described as "a lullaby of death" because of its predominantly gentle tone. Fauré omitted the Dies irae , though reference to the day of judgment appears in

14300-519: The positive aspects of a work. In 1905 a scandal erupted in French musical circles over the country's top musical prize, the Prix de Rome . Fauré's pupil Ravel had been eliminated prematurely in his sixth attempt for this award, and many believed that reactionary elements within the Conservatoire had played a part in it. Dubois, who became the subject of much censure, brought forward his retirement and stepped down at once. Appointed in his place, and with

14443-486: The post in January 1866. During his four years at Rennes he supplemented his income by taking private pupils, giving "countless piano lessons". At Saint-Saëns's regular prompting he continued to compose, but none of his works from this period survive. He was bored at Rennes and had an uneasy relationship with the parish priest, who correctly doubted Fauré's religious conviction. Fauré was regularly seen stealing out during

14586-476: The prayer alone for eternal rest on a simple melody. The sopranos continue similarly that praise is due in Jerusalem, then all voices exclaim " Exaudi " (hear). The Kyrie begins with the same melody that the tenor sang before, but now in unison of soprano, alto and tenor, repeated in the following four measures in four-part harmony. The call "Christe" is strong and urgent the first time, repeated more softly

14729-417: The priest in charge told the composer, "We don't need these novelties: the Madeleine's repertoire is quite rich enough." As a young man Fauré had been very cheerful; a friend wrote of his "youthful, even somewhat child-like, mirth." From his thirties he suffered bouts of depression, which he described as " spleen ", possibly first caused by his broken engagement and his lack of success as a composer. In 1890

14872-477: The rare occasions when the piece has been staged, critical opinion has generally praised the musical quality of the score, but has varied as to the dramatic effectiveness of the work. When the opera was first presented in London in 1970, in a student production by the Royal Academy of Music , Peter Heyworth wrote, "A score that offers rich rewards to an attentive ear can none the less fail to cut much ice in

15015-584: The rest of his life. From 1878, he and Messager made trips abroad to see Wagner operas. They saw Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at the Cologne Opera ; the complete Ring cycle at the Hofoper in Munich and at Her Majesty's Theatre in London; and Die Meistersinger in Munich and at Bayreuth , where they also saw Parsifal . They frequently performed as a party piece their joint composition,

15158-454: The school ended its practice of keeping students enrolled "at the discretion of their major instrument teacher". In accepting the findings of an independent investigation of abuse allegations that found the practice was a "real threat" and a student "could be dismissed for any reason at any time", Curtis pledged several other steps to ensure students' well-being, including providing them with access to counseling. The institute formerly served as

15301-471: The school's standards and publicize the school. Hofmann reduced enrollment to ensure that students would receive individualized attention. Curtis initiated weekly radio broadcasts through CBS in 1929. The Curtis String Quartet was established in 1928 and lasted until 1981. From 1931 to 1941, Fritz Reiner served as the conductor of the Curtis Orchestra, who toured with the orchestra throughout

15444-642: The school, including a premier prix in composition for the Cantique de Jean Racine , Op. 11, the earliest of his choral works to enter the regular repertory. He left the school in July 1865, as a Laureat in organ, piano, harmony and composition, with a Maître de chapelle diploma. On leaving the École Niedermeyer, Fauré was appointed organist at the Church of Saint-Sauveur, at Rennes in Brittany . He took up

15587-400: The sermon for a cigarette, and in early 1870, when he turned up to play at Mass one Sunday still in his evening clothes, having been out all night at a ball, he was asked to resign. Almost immediately, with the discreet aid of Saint-Saëns, he secured the post of assistant organist at the church of Notre-Dame de Clignancourt , in the north of Paris. He remained there for only a few months. On

15730-417: The society in 1874. Many of his works were first presented at the society's concerts. In 1874 Fauré moved from Saint-Sulpice to the Église de la Madeleine , acting as deputy for the principal organist, Saint-Saëns, during the latter's many absences on tour. Some admirers of Fauré's music have expressed regret that although he played the organ professionally for four decades, he left no solo compositions for

15873-408: The standards of scholarship one expects from a university press". The Musical Times considered the Nectoux and Delage edition "invaluable". Fauré's own manuscript survives but, as the critic Andrew Thomson puts it, "the waters were muddied by his overwritings on the original MSS, adding two bassoons and two more horns and trumpets, together with modifications of the cello and bass parts." Reviewing

16016-435: The sudden felicities in which his development sections abound, and those codas in which whole movements are briefly but magically illuminated." His work was based on the strong understanding of harmonic structures that he gained at the École Niedermeyer from Niedermeyer's successor Gustave Lefèvre . Lefèvre wrote the book Traité d'harmonie (Paris, 1889), in which he sets out a harmonic theory that differs significantly from

16159-435: The support of the French government, Fauré radically changed the administration and curriculum. He appointed independent external judges to decide on admissions, examinations and competitions, a move which enraged faculty members who had given preferential treatment to their private pupils; feeling themselves deprived of a considerable extra income, many of them resigned. Fauré was dubbed " Robespierre " by disaffected members of

16302-564: The teaching of harmony for later generations. During the last twenty years of his life, he suffered from increasing deafness. In contrast with the charm of his earlier music, his works from this period are sometimes elusive and withdrawn in character, and at other times turbulent and impassioned. Fauré was born in Pamiers , Ariège , in the south of France, the fifth son and youngest of six children of Toussaint-Honoré Fauré (1810–85) and Marie-Antoinette-Hélène Lalène-Laprade (1809–87). According to

16445-399: The text " Libera me ... " (Free me, Lord, from eternal death on that terrible day when the heavens will move and the earth, when you come to judge the world with fire.), embarking on a melody of wide range, with some sharp leaps . The text is continued by the choir in four parts in homophony: " Tremens factus sum ego " (I am trembling). In more motion, " Dies irae " (day of wrath)

16588-544: The theatre. ... Most of the music is too recessive to be theatrically effective." However, after a 2006 production at the Wexford Festival , Ian Fox wrote, "Fauré's Pénélope is a true rarity, and, although some lovely music was anticipated, it was a surprise how sure the composer's theatrical touch was." Fauré's major sets of piano works are thirteen nocturnes , thirteen barcarolles , six impromptus , and four valses-caprices. These sets were composed across

16731-483: The wars rejected this outdated premise, turning for inspiration to Bartók , the Second Viennese School , and the latest works of Stravinsky . In a centenary tribute in 1945, the musicologist Leslie Orrey wrote in The Musical Times , "'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,

16874-458: The work for two soloists, chorus and orchestra. Its movements and their sections are listed in a table for the scoring in voices , key , time signature (using the symbol for common time , equivalent to 4 ) and tempo marking . The voices are abbreviated, S for soprano , A for alto , T for tenor , B for bass . The composer divides the choir into as many as six parts, SATTBB , but frequently uses unison of one part or several. Given

17017-400: The work in the late 1880s and revised it in the 1890s, finishing it in 1900. In seven movements , the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ. Different from typical Requiem settings, the full sequence Dies irae is omitted, replaced by its section Pie Jesu . The final movement In Paradisum is based on a text that is not part of

17160-688: The work with those voices in mind, and had to employ them for his performances at the Madeleine, but in the concert hall, unconstrained by ecclesiastical rules, he preferred female singers for the upper choral parts and the solo in the Pie Jesu . In 1899–1900, the score was reworked for full orchestra. This final version was premiered at the Trocadéro in Paris on 12 July 1900, during the Exposition Universelle . Paul Taffanel conducted forces of 250 performers. The composer said of

17303-451: The work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest." He told an interviewer, It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as

17446-430: The works of Debussy . Fauré's new position left him better off financially. However, while he also became much more widely known as a composer, running the Conservatoire left him with no more time for composition than when he was struggling to earn a living as an organist and piano teacher. As soon as the working year was over, in the last days of July, he would leave Paris and spend the two months until early October in

17589-663: The world. In Copland's view, the early songs, written in the 1860s and 1870s under the influence of Gounod , except for isolated songs such as " Après un rêve " or "Au bord de l'eau", show little sign of the artist to come. With the second volume of the sixty collected songs written during the next two decades, Copland judged, came the first mature examples of "the real Fauré". He instanced "Les berceaux", "Les roses d'Ispahan" and especially " Clair de lune " as "so beautiful, so perfect, that they have even penetrated to America", and drew attention to less well known mélodies such as "Le secret", "Nocturne", and "Les présents". Fauré also composed

17732-477: Was Schumann , whose piano music Fauré loved more than any other. In Copland's view, it was with the sixth Nocturne that Fauré fully emerged from any predecessor's shadow. The pianist Alfred Cortot said, "There are few pages in all music comparable to these." The critic Bryce Morrison has noted that pianists frequently prefer to play the charming earlier piano works, such as the Impromptu No. 2, rather than

17875-495: Was "without beauty, wit or a fortune ... narrow and cold", but records that "in spite of everything [Fauré] still felt a tenderness towards her". The marriage was affectionate, but Marie was, in Nectoux's phrase, "a stay-at-home", and she did not share her husband's wish to go out in the evenings, and became resentful of his frequent absences, his dislike of domestic life – "horreur du domicile"  – and his love affairs, while she remained at home. Though Fauré valued Marie as

18018-501: Was a Columbia set recorded in 1938, with Suzanne Dupont, soprano; Maurice Didier, baritone; Les Chanteurs de Lyon and Le Trigentuor instrumental lyonnais, conducted by Ernest Bourmauck . Since 1984, when John Rutter's edition of the 1893 score was recorded for the Conifer label, there have been numerous sets of both the 1893 and 1900 versions issued on CD. Those singled out for particular mention by critics are listed below. The Requiem

18161-495: Was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane , Requiem , Sicilienne , nocturnes for piano and the songs " Après un rêve " and " Clair de lune ". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in

18304-435: Was a chapel attached to the school, which Fauré recalled in the last year of his life: I grew up, a rather quiet well-behaved child, in an area of great beauty. ... But the only thing I remember really clearly is the harmonium in that little chapel. Every time I could get away I ran there – and I regaled myself. ... I played atrociously ... no method at all, quite without technique, but I do remember that I

18447-531: Was a great success, and it was revived at Béziers the following year and in Paris in 1907. A version with orchestration for normal opera house-sized forces was given at the Paris Opéra in May 1917 and received more than forty performances in Paris thereafter. From 1903 to 1921, Fauré regularly wrote music criticism for Le Figaro , a role in which he was not at ease. Nectoux writes that Fauré's natural kindness and broad-mindedness predisposed him to emphasise

18590-415: Was appointed to another of Guiraud's posts, inspector of the music conservatories in the French provinces. He disliked the prolonged travelling around the country that the work entailed, but the post gave him a steady income and enabled him to give up teaching amateur pupils. In 1896 Ambroise Thomas died, and Théodore Dubois took over as head of the Conservatoire. Fauré succeeded Dubois as chief organist of

18733-462: Was appointed to take over from Dubois. In July Fauré became engaged to Pauline Viardot's daughter Marianne, with whom he was deeply in love. To his great sorrow, she broke off the engagement in November 1877, for reasons that are not clear. To distract Fauré, Saint-Saëns took him to Weimar and introduced him to Franz Liszt . This visit gave Fauré a liking for foreign travel, which he indulged for

18876-467: Was aware that his own music was respected rather than loved in Germany. In January 1905, visiting Frankfurt and Cologne for concerts of his music, he had written, "The criticisms of my music have been that it's a bit cold and too well brought up! There's no question about it, French and German are two different things." In 1920, at the age of 75, Fauré retired from the Conservatoire because of his increasing deafness and frailty. In that year he received

19019-459: Was born, though there is no conclusive evidence either way. During the 1890s Fauré's fortunes improved. When Ernest Guiraud , professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire , died in 1892, Saint-Saëns encouraged Fauré to apply for the vacant post. The faculty of the Conservatoire regarded Fauré as dangerously modern, and its head, Ambroise Thomas , blocked the appointment, declaring, "Fauré? Never! If he's appointed, I resign." However, Fauré

19162-493: Was by the English conductor John Rutter in 1989. Nectoux's edition, jointly edited with Roger Delage , was published in 1994. They had the advantage of access to important source material unavailable to Rutter: a set of orchestral parts discovered in 1968 in the Madeleine and a score made in the 1890s by a bass in the Madeleine choir and annotated by Fauré. Music & Letters judged the Rutter edition, "makeshift and lacking in

19305-444: Was effective in liturgical performances, but for the large concert venues, and large choral societies of the time, a larger orchestra was required. The autograph of the resulting 1900 version does not survive, and critics have speculated whether Fauré, who was not greatly interested in orchestration, delegated some or all of the revision to one of his pupils. Many details of the augmented score differ from Fauré's own earlier amendments to

19448-575: Was excellent. Niedermeyer, whose goal was to produce qualified organists and choirmasters, focused on church music. Fauré's tutors were Clément Loret for organ, Louis Dietsch for harmony, Xavier Wackenthaler for counterpoint and fugue , and Niedermeyer for piano, plainsong and composition. When Niedermeyer died in March 1861, Camille Saint-Saëns took charge of piano studies and introduced contemporary music, including that of Schumann , Liszt and Wagner . Fauré recalled in old age, "After allowing

19591-698: Was founded in 1924, following the formation of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1900 and the Philadelphia Opera Company in 1908 and amidst industrial decline and political corruption in Philadelphia . The institute's founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok , a philanthropist, administrator, and major proponent of the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia , named the new school after her father, publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis . The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania chartered

19734-504: Was happy; and if that is what it means to have a vocation, then it is a very pleasant thing. An old blind woman, who came to listen and give the boy advice, told his father of Fauré's gift for music. In 1853 Simon-Lucien Dufaur de Saubiac, of the National Assembly , heard Fauré play and advised Toussaint-Honoré to send him to the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse (School of Classical and Religious Music), better known as

19877-428: Was one of 75 pianists to audition in 1951; only three were accepted. A short while before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary diploma by Curtis. Gould Rehearsal Hall A 2,850-square-foot, acoustically designed rehearsal hall accommodates a full orchestra, with state-of-the-art video and audio capabilities. Field Concert Hall is a 240-seat auditorium with facilities for both video and audio recording. The venue

20020-471: Was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his day. An unprecedented national musical tribute was held for him in Paris in 1922, headed by the president of the French Republic . Outside France, Fauré's music took decades to become widely accepted, except in Britain, where he had many admirers during his lifetime. Fauré's music has been described as linking the end of Romanticism with

20163-417: Was significant for Fauré, both professionally and personally. In January his first violin sonata was performed at a Société Nationale concert with great success, marking a turning-point in his composing career at the age of 31. Nectoux counts the work as the composer's first great masterpiece. In March, Saint-Saëns retired from the Madeleine, succeeded as organist by Théodore Dubois , his choirmaster; Fauré

20306-454: Was succeeded by Randall Thompson , who became director in 1939 and held the post for two years. Thompson introduced mandatory weekly lectures providing an overview of music history. Violinist Efrem Zimbalist , who had become the head of the violin department in 1930 at Curtis, replaced Thompson as director in 1941. Under Zimbalist, the institute focused more on training soloists and cutting down on costs, which became especially necessary during

20449-499: Was the only one of the six children to display musical talent; his four brothers pursued careers in journalism, politics, the army and the civil service, and his sister had a traditional life as the wife of a public servant. The young Fauré was sent to live with a foster mother until he was four years old. When his father was appointed director of the École Normale d'Instituteurs, a teacher training college, at Montgauzy, near Foix , in 1849, Fauré returned to live with his family. There

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