Faure, Gabriel Urbain
1845-
A notable figure in the history of music, who is at the present time head of the Paris
Conservatory, haying succeeded Theodore Dubois in that position in 1905. Faure
was born at Pamiers, Ariege, a town near the Pyrenees and showed such musical
aptitude that he was sent to Paris, where he studied under Niedermeyer, and
Dietsche and was one of the few pupils of Saint-Saens. In 1885 Faure won the
Chartier prize for chambermusic, and again attained that honor in 1893. In 1866
he was appointed organist at Rennes, and after five years spent in that
position he settled permanently in Paris, where he was organist at the Church
of St. Sulpice and St. Honore, and
chapelmaster at the Madeleine, succeeding Dubois as organist in 1896.
That same year Faure was appointed professor of counterpoint, composition and
fugue at the Conservatory, succeeding Massenet. For several years he has been
the musical critic of the Paris Figaro. Faure's works are numerous and are of
great beauty and high musical value. Unlike most Frenchmen of note he has not
gone into the field of operatic or symphony writing to any great extent. By
some critics he has been compared to Saint-Saens, whose favorite pupil he was and whose intimate
and devoted friend he is today. Faure's works include a one-act opera,
L'Organiste; incidental music to Dumas' Caligula and Harancourt's Shylock; a
requiem; a symphony in D minor; violin concerto; an orchestral suite; two piano
quartets; a well-known violin sonata; and many charming piano and violin
pieces. His most remarkable compositions are the choral work, La Naissance de
Venus, and the music to Maeterlinck's Pelleas and Melisande. Among the best of
his later lyrics are Apres un reve; En Priere; and Les Roses d'Ispahan.
Musicians and critics have praised especially a berceuse and romance for violin
and orchestra, an elegie for violoncello, and his impromptu. Other works are
nine songs to the words of Paul Verlaine and other songs, which are full of
sincere feeling and great beauty and which have made him known on both sides of
the Atlantic; the seventh barcarolle, a harp impromptu and many delicate and
finished piano pieces. Faure's life has been one of unceasing activity at first
in connection with the National Society of Music, then as organist at the
Madeleine and as a Conservatory teacher. In 1892 he succeeded Guiraud as
inspecteur des Beaux arts, and, as already noted, Dubois, as head of the Paris
Conservatory in 1905. His installation as director of the Conservatory was made
the occasion of many deserved tributes to the composer, who is of an extremely
modest disposition. Faure, it is said, at times displays the modern tendency of
wandering through a labyrinth of harmonies in which, however, he never loses
himself, and all agree that his music shows many rare beauties.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
|
