Pavane (Fauré)

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Fauré in 1887

The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is a short work by the French composer Gabriel Fauré written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus. It was first performed in Paris in 1888, becoming one of the composer's most popular works.

History

The work is titled after the slow processional Spanish court dance of the same name.[1] Fauré's original version of the piece was written for piano and chorus in the late 1880s.[2] He described it as "elegant, assuredly, but not particularly important."[3]

Fauré composed the orchestral version at

Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe,[5] he felt compelled to stage a grander affair and at her recommendation he added an invisible chorus to accompany the orchestra (with additional allowance for dancers). The words were inconsequential verses, à la Verlaine, on the romantic helplessness of man, written by the Countess's cousin, Robert de Montesquiou.[6]
Fauré wrote:

The Ballets Russes presentation of Las Meninas, danced to Fauré's Pavane

The orchestral version was first performed at a

Société nationale de musique. In 1891, the Countess finally helped Fauré produce the version with both dancers and chorus, in a "choreographic spectacle" designed to grace one of her garden parties in the Bois de Boulogne.[8]

From the outset, the Pavane has enjoyed immense popularity, whether with or without chorus.

Velázquez.[11] Some critics found the ballet pallid, but Diaghilev retained a fondness for the piece, and kept it in the company's repertoire until the end of his life.[11]

Fauré's example was imitated by his juniors, who went on to write pavanes of their own:

Music

Opening bars

The work is scored for modest orchestral forces consisting of strings and one pair each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns.[13]

The Fauré scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux writes that the Pavane has become one of the composer's best-known pieces, and "there will be few to deny that it is one of the most attractive of his lesser works: the flute theme, once heard, is not easily forgotten".[14] In a 1979 study, Robert Orledge describes the scoring of the Pavane as "delicate and airy, with some practical and inspired woodwind writing and a variety of string textures…" He adds that the strings sometimes double the viola part on either second violins or cellos, "perhaps for safety's sake".[15] After the opening flute theme, there is a more dramatic central section, comprising a series of four-bar sequences over bass pedals which descend whole tones – a favourite device of Fauré's. There are small and barely perceptible changes to the main theme during the work and reharmonisations that Orledge calls "a miracle of Fauréan ingenuity".[15]

Performance timings vary considerably. These recordings made between 1953 and 2014 have playing times from under five minutes to nearly seven:

Orchestra Conductor Year Timing Ref
Detroit Symphony Paul Paray 1953 4:50 [16]
ORTF National Orchestra
Sir Thomas Beecham 1959 5:09 [17]
Philadelphia Orchestra Eugene Ormandy 1968 6:58 [18]
Orchestre de Paris Daniel Barenboim 1974 6:18 [19]
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Neville Marriner 1981 6:35 [20]
Boston Symphony Seiji Ozawa 1986 6:51 [21]
Montreal Symphony Charles Dutoit 1987 6:39 [22]
BBC Philharmonic
Yan Pascal Tortelier 1995 6:19 [23]
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas 2014 6:12 [24]

Fauré intended the piece to be played more briskly than it is sometimes performed in its more familiar orchestral guise. The conductor

crotchets a minute.[25] Boult commented that the composer's sprightly tempo emphasised that the Pavane was not a piece of German romanticism,[25] and that the text later added was "clearly a piece of light-hearted chaffing between the dancers".[26]

Verse

It's Lindor! it's Tircis! and all our conquerors!
It's Myrtil! it's Lydé! the queens of our hearts!
How provocative they are, how proud they are always!
How they dare reign over our fates and our days!

Pay attention! Observe the measure!
O the deadly insult!
The pace is less slow!
And the fall more certain!

We'll tone down their chatter!
Soon we'll be their lackeys!
How ugly they are! Sweet faces!
How crazy they are! Coquettish airs!

And it's always the same! And will be so always!
They love one another! They hate one another!
They curse their loves!
Farewell, Myrtil! Eglé! Chloe! Mocking demons!
Farewell and good days to the tyrants of our hearts![28]

Notes, references and sources

Notes

  1. ^ The distribution of the words between sopranos, contraltos, tenors and basses is: Sopranos: C'est Lindor, c'est Tircis et c'est tous nos vainqueurs/Basses: Cest Myrtil, c'est Lydé! les reines de nos cœurs/Contraltos: Comme ils sont provocants! Comme ils sont fiers toujours!/All four voices: Comme on ose régner sur nos sorts et nos jours/Sopranos: Faites attention!/Basses: Observez la mesure!/Sopranos: Ô la mortelle injure!/Tenors: La cadence est moins lente et la chute plus sûre./Contraltos: Nous rabattrons bien leur caquets/Basses: Nous serons bientôt leurs laquais!/Contraltos: Qu'ils sont laids!/Tenors: Chers minois!/Sopranos and contraltos: Qu'ils sont fols!/Basses: Airs coquets!/Tenors: Et c'est toujours de même,/Basses: Et c'est ainsi toujours!/Sopranos and contraltos: On s'adore, on se hait! On maudit ses amours!/Tenors and basses: On s'adore!/All four voices: On se hait/Sopranos: On maudit ses amours!/Tenors: Adieu Myrtil! Eglé, Chloé, démons moqueurs!/Contraltos: Adieu donc et bons jours aux tyrans de nos cœurs!/All four voices: Et bons jours![27]

References

  1. ^ a b Brown, Alan. "Pavan" Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 15 November 2011 (subscription required)
  2. ^ Howat, p. 155
  3. ^ Fauré (1984), p. 129
  4. ^ a b c Orledge, Robert (1993). Notes to EMI CD CDM 7-64715-2
  5. ^ Nectoux. p. 172
  6. ^ Nectoux, p. 34
  7. ^ Fauré (1984), pp. 130–131
  8. ^ Nectoux, p. 510
  9. ^ Nectoux, p. 338
  10. ^ " Las meninas", Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 3 March 2021
  11. ^ a b Norton, p. 25
  12. ^ Nectoux, p. 109
  13. ^ Fauré (1901), p. 1
  14. ^ Nectoux, pp. 108–109
  15. ^ a b Orledge, p. 101
  16. ^ Naxos 9.80451
  17. ^ Parlophone 5099990993251
  18. ^ Sony Classical 074646264423
  19. ^ Parlophone 5099962172059
  20. ^ Decca 00028947820246
  21. ^ Deutsche Grammophon 00028942308923
  22. ^ Decca 00028942144026
  23. ^ ChandosCHAN10113
  24. ^ SFS Media190295689018
  25. ^ a b Howat, p. 272
  26. ^ Boult, Adrian C. "Faure's Pavane", The Musical Times, Vol. 117, No. 1600 (June 1976), p. 490 (subscription required)
  27. ^ Fauré (1901), pp. 6–23
  28. ^ English translation combined from Google and Microsoft translators

Sources

  • Fauré, Gabriel (1901). Pavane (PDF). Paris: Hamelle.
    OCLC 844205333
    .
  • Fauré, Gabriel (1984) [1980]. .
  • .
  • Nectoux, Jean-Michel (1991). Gabriel Fauré – A Musical Life. .
  • Norton, Leslie (2004). Léonide Massine and the 20th Century Ballet. Jefferson NC.: McFarland & Company. .
  • .

External links