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Gabriel Faure

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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GABRIEL FAURE (1845-), French musical composer, was born at Pamiers on the 13th of May 1845. He studied at the school of sacred music directed by Niedermeyer, first under Dietsch, and subsequently under Saint-Sans. He became "maitre de chapelle" at the church of the Madeleine in 1877, and organist in 1896. His works include a symphony in D minor (Op. 40), two quartets for piano and strings (Opp. 15 and 45), a suite for orchestra (Op. 12), sonata for violin and piano (Op. 13), concerto for violin (Op. 14), berceuse for violin, elegie for violoncello, pavane for orchestra, incidental music for Alexandre Dumas' Caligula and De Haraucourt's Shylock, a requiem, a cantata, The Birth of Venus, produced at the Leeds festival in 1898, a quantity of piano music, and a large number of songs. Faure occupies a place by himself among modern French composers. He delights in the imprevu, and loves to wander through labyrinthine harmonies. There can be no denying the intense fascination and remarkable originality of his music. His muse is essentially aristocratic, and suggests the surroundings of the boudoir and the perfume of the hothouse.