Fauré - Piano Music

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was one of the towering figures in French music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and greatly influenced many later composers world-wide. He was born in Pamiers in the south of France, but was sent to Paris at the age of nine, to study at the Ècole Niedermayer in Paris, with teachers including Camille Saint-Saëns. He later became a regular at the salons of Saint-Saëns, and also eventually succeeded his former teacher as choir master at the Èglise de la Madeleine.
In 1870, he served in the army during the Franco-Prussian War. Following a broken engagement in 1877, he went travelling, spending some time in Germany where he met Liszt and Wagner.
He married in 1883, continued to hold various positions and to compose songs and piano music, slowly developing his very personal and harmonically complex musical style.
At the age of fifty-one, he finally became chief organist at the Èglise de la Madeleine, and months later he was appointed composition teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Maurice Ravel, Nadia Boulanger and George Enescu. In 1905 he became director of the Conservatoire in the aftermath of the scandal of the refusal of the Prix de Rome to Ravel.
He retired from the Conservatoire in 1920, mainly due to his increasing deafness, but continued composing until his death at 79.

Major works:
Choral music: Requiem
Other Vocal music: songs (Après un Rêve, En prière, Sylvia etc) and song cycles (La Bonne Chanson, Le Jardin Clos etc)
Piano music: Barcarolles, Nocturnes, Impromptus
Chamber music: Two Violin Sonatas, two Cello Sonatas, String Quartet, Piano Trio, Piano Quartet, two Piano Quintets
Orchestral: Ballade (piano and orchestra), Fantasie (piano and orchestra), Elégie (cello and orchestra), Berceuse (violin and orchestra), Masques et Bergamasques, incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande

Piano Sheet music by Gabriel Fauré to Download

Total pieces by Fauré: 43

Title	Key	Published	Type	Level
Ballade - op 19	F-sharp Major	1881	Piece	8+
Nocturnes Fauré’s Nocturnes were composed over a span of 45 years, from 1875 when the composer was 30 years old until a few years before his death at the age of 79. They reflect the development of his very personal musical language, from the ecstatic lyricism of Fauré the Romantic, to the concentrated, highly individual expressions of the composer’s later years.
Nocturne 1 - op 33 no 1	E-flat Minor	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 2 - op 33 no 2	B Major	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 3 - op 33 no 3	A-flat Major	-	Piece	7
Nocturne 4 - op 36	E-flat Major	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 5 - op 37	B-flat Major	-	Piece	8+
Nocturne 6 - op 63	D-flat Major	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 7 - op 74	C-sharp Minor	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 8 - op 84 no 8	D-flat Major	-	Piece	7
Nocturne 9 - op 97	B Minor	-	Piece	7
Nocturne 10 - op 99	E Minor	-	Piece	8
Nocturne 11 - op 104 no 1	F-sharp Minor	-	Piece	7
Nocturne 12 - op 107	E Minor	-	Piece	8
Barcarolles The Barcarolle, modelled on the folk songs sung by Venetian gondoliers, proved to be an inspirational genre for Fauré, who certainly wrote the most impressive collection of Barcarolles in the history of classical music. The thirteen pieces were composed throughout his career and reflect Fauré’s development from luscious Romantic to forward-looking and slightly introverted Modernist.
Barcarolle 1 - op 26	A Minor	-	Piece	8+
Barcarolle 2 - op 41	G Major	-	Piece	8
Barcarolle 3 - op 42	G-flat Major	-	Piece	8+
Barcarolle 4 - op 44	A-flat Major	-	Piece	8
Barcarolle 5 - op 66	F-sharp Minor	-	Piece	8+
Barcarolle 6 - op 70	E-flat Major	-	Piece	8
Barcarolle 7 - op 90	D Minor	-	Piece	7
Barcarolle 8 - op 96	D-flat Major	-	Piece	8
Barcarolle 9 - op 101	A Minor	-	Piece	7
Barcarolle 10 - op 104 no 2	A Minor	-	Piece	7
Barcarolle 11 - op 105	G Minor	-	Piece	8
Barcarolle 12 - op 106	E-flat Major	-	Piece	7
Preludes The preludes of op. 103 are mature works, composed by Fauré at the age of 65 in 1910. In May that year, the first three were premiered by the famous French pianist Marguerite Long, who was one of the most important advocates of Fauré’s piano music, although the two were not always the best of friends. On one occasion Fauré even called her “a shameless woman who uses my name to get on”. It is probable that Fauré originally intended to continue the series and write one prelude in every major and minor key.
Prelude - op 103 no 1	D-flat Major	1911	Piece	6
Prelude - op 103 no 2	C-sharp Minor	1911	Piece	8
Prelude - op 103 no 3	G Minor	1911	Piece	6
Prelude - op 103 no 4	F Major	1911	Piece	6
Prelude - op 103 no 5	D Minor	1911	Piece	8
Prelude - op 103 no 6	E-flat Minor	1911	Piece	6
Prelude - op 103 no 7	A Major	1911	Piece	7
Prelude - op 103 no 8	C Minor	1911	Piece	8
Prelude - op 103 no 9	E Minor	1911	Piece	5
Impromptus Fauré’s first three Impromptus date from the early 1880s, but at least partly strikes a more serious and passionate note than the exuberant Valse-Caprices from the same period. The fourth Impromptu, from 1904, partly remains in the earlier sound world, but also contains a rather unsettling, harmonically provocative middle section. The brief fifth Impromptu is a breathtaking moto perpetuo making very interesting use of the whole tone scale. The sixth Impromptu is a transcription by Alfred Cortot of Fauré’s Impromptu for harp.
Impromptu 1 - op 25	E-flat Major	1881	Piece	8+
Impromptu 2 - op 31	F Minor	1883	Piece	8
Impromptu 3 - op 34	A-flat Major	1883	Piece	8
Impromptu 4 - op 91	D-flat Major	1906	Piece	8+
Impromptu 5 - op 102	F-sharp Minor	1909	Piece	8
Waltz-Caprices The Valse-Caprices date from Fauré’s early and middle periods. They are composed in a romantic virtuoso style and offer a profusion of fresh and charming melodies, but also display the characteristic richness of Fauré’s harmonic language.
Waltz-Caprice 1 - op 30	A Major	1883	Piece	8
Waltz-Caprice 2 - op 38	D Major	1884	Piece	8
Waltz-Caprice 3 - op 59	G-flat Major	1893	Piece	8
Waltz-Caprice 4 - op 62	A-flat Major	1894	Piece	8