Presents
Gabriel Fauré
String Quartet in e minor, Op.121
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was born in the village of Pamiers, Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées. At an early age he was sent to study at the famous École Niedermeyer, a Parisian school which prepared church organists and choir directors. He studied with several prominent French musicians, including Charles Lefèvre and Camille Saint-Saëns. For most of his life, Fauré worked as a church organist and teacher. Among his students were Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. He was a founder of the the Société Nationale de Musique and eventually became director of the Paris Conservatory. In retrospect, he has come to be regarded as a transitional and unique figure in French music. His lifetime and works spanned the period of the mid Romantic right up to the modern post-WWI developments of Stravinsky. He and his music were well-known during his lifetime and several of his works are still popular today such as his Requiem, the opera Pénélope, the music for Pelléas et Mélisande and the Dolly Suite. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music; including two piano quartets, two piano quintets, two cello sonatas, two violin sonatas, a string quartet, and a piano trio.
His String Quartet in e minor, Op.121, is the only string quartet he wrote. Completed in 1924 shortly before his death at the age of 79, it is his last composition. Faure had often been encouraged by his friends to composer a string quartet but always declined, on the grounds that it was too difficult. When he finally decided to write it, he did so in trepidation. While working on it, he wrote to his wife “This is a genre which Beethoven in particular made famous, and causes all those who are not Beethoven to be terrified of it so you can well imagine I am frightened too. I have spoken of this to no one”.
The quartet is in three movements, the last movement combining the functions of a scherzo and a finale. The work has been described as an intimate meditation on the last things, and ethereal and other-worldly with themes that seem constantly to be drawn skywards.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $34.95
