Repertory Studies 7 – MUSC 8061

Written Assignment No. 1 – Own Choice Work - Template

Please complete the following template with details of a work of your own choice from the Baroque era (1900 - WWII approx., but the work may be outside those dates as long as it is stylistically appropriate). Please note that the work should not be one that has been covered in class.

Composer Gabriel Fauré

Composer’s dates 12th May 1845 – 4th November 1924

Composer’s nationality French

Title of work Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande

Year of composition 1900 (Suite)

Approximate venue of composition France

Was the work a commission? If so, for whom?

The original score for Maurice Maeterlinck’s play was commissioned by Mrs Patrick Campbell.

Details of first performance (if available)Date, venue

The Concerts Lamoureux, February 1901

Key 1. Prelude – G major2. Fileuse – G major3. Sicilienne – G minor4. Mort de Mélisande – D minor

Structure 1. Prelude2. Fileuse3. Sicilienne4. Mort de Mélisande

Instrumentation Strings & harp Wind: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2

bassoons Brass: 4 horns, 2 trumpets Persussion: Timpani

Details of recordings of the work to which you have listened (please provide two)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm- Iwi3zVWY

Fauré, Gabriel: Requiem. Op.48 ; Pavane. Op.50 ; Pelleas et Melisande. Op.80Germany : Phillips

Details of a score which you consulted during your work

Pelléas er Mélisande: suite for orchestra, op. 80 – Fauré, Gabriel, 1845 -1924. London; New York: E. Eulenberg [1981]

Pelléas et Mélisande: Complete scoreLeipzig: Edition Peters, 1979.

In a few paragraphs (500 - 750 words), please put together the above information into a short, programme note style piece of prose. NB – this must be in your own words. Please write this text below. After the text please include a bibliography. Be sure to incorporate descriptive adjectives into your writing.

In 1898, Gabriel Fauré was commissioned by actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell to compose incidental music for the London production of Maurice Maeterlinck’s play Pelléas et Mélisande. Having initially approached Debussy with this proposition, to which he declined, Mrs. Campbell then invited Fauré to undertake the composition following their encounter in London, in March of 1898. He would be the first of four composers to compose music inspired by Maeterlinck’s play. Fauré was given a time restraint of three months, as the play was due to open in June of that year. As he often did, Fauré partially reused previous unfinished works in his composition of this new score, where he was obviously pressed for time. Addittionally, he enlisted the help of a former student of his, Charles Koechlin, to aid him in his orchestration of the piano score . The entire work comprised of 19 pieces and was premiered on June 21st 1898 at the Prince of Whales’s Theatre. Mrs. Campbell was captivated by Fauré’s composition and continued to reuse his score throughout each subsequent revival of the play.

Following the run of the play in London, Fauré decided to extract three of the 19 movements to create a full orchestral suite – Prélude, Fileuse and La mort de Mélisande. Featuring this original structure, Pélleas et Mélisande was first premiered in February 1901 at the Concerts Lamoureux by a larger orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, harp and a standard string section. Fauré was seemingly unhappy with this first production and later decided to add a fourth movement - Sicilienne. This final version of Péleas et Mélisande was eventually published in 1909, featuring orchestration work from both him and his past pupil, Koechlin.

Pélleas et Mélisande is said to be a suite quintessential of Fauré’s style – in that its melodic qualities are similar to that of his vocal music. Prélude opens the suite with a portrayal of the forest in which Golaud disvovers the fragile Mélisande. Beginning in G major, his movement is said to be divided into two themes – one depicting Mélisande’s shy personality by a restricted melodic line, and the other representing Golaud’s encounter with his future wife Mélesande by a romantic duologue between cello and woodwind. The movement ends in G with a final horn call, said to represent Golaud’s discovery of his love, Mélisande. Fileuse, composed in the same key, was originally the entr’act to Act III and is also known as The Spinning Song – a piece that preceded the famous love scene between Mélisande and Golaud’s half-brother, Pélleas. In the original play, Méllisande is seated at her spinning wheel – a scene that is suitably imitated by a gentle oboe melody with a rapid, “whirring” string accompaniment, marked at andantino quasi allegretto. Despite being the most recent addition to the suite, Sicilienne soon became the most popular and most frequently performed movement of the entire work. Although set in the notably sad key of G minor, this movement is said to depict a rare moment of happiness between Pélleas and Mélisande, featured in Act II of the original play. The lilting 6/8 flute solo soon became one of the most distinguishable sections of the entire suite. The final movement, Mort de Mélisande, is set in D minor and tragically recalls themes from The Spinning Song (Mélisande’s Song). The clarinets and flutes create a theme of lamentation combined with poignant beauty, followed by a final echo of the opening theme on strings and finally, solo flute. This final movement was in fact played at Fauré’s own funeral in 1924.

Bibliography

http://arts.ucdavis.edu/post/faure-pelleas-et-melisande-suite-0

http://cso.org/uploadedfiles/1_tickets_and_events/program_notes/ programnotes_faure_pelleasmelisande.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pell%C3%A9as_et_M%C3%A9lisande_%28Faur%C3%A9%29

http://www.allegroclassical.com/faure-pelleas-melisande.html

http://imslp.org/wiki/Pell%C3%A9as_et_M%C3%A9lisande,_Op.80_%28Faur %C3%A9,_Gabriel%29