The incidental music for Shylock, an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, was commissioned by Paul Porel, director of the Opéra-Comique, a year after Caligula.
Composition History
Fauré was initially wary of orchestrating his songs, as they were conceived for intimate salon settings, but he orchestrated two of them himself.
Composition History
Fauré entrusted the orchestration of his Pelléas et Mélisande score to his pupil Charles Koechlin, who later revised the orchestration of Mélisande's Song after Fauré's death.
Composition History
The incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande was originally offered to Claude Debussy, but after his refusal, actress Mrs Patrick Campbell commissioned Fauré.
Composition History
Fauré composed incidental music for Alexandre Dumas père's tragedy Caligula in 1888, which was then reworked into a concert suite for full orchestra.
Composition History
Fauré's orchestral music on this album primarily consists of concertante works and orchestral suites, drawn from his incidental music for plays.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Gabriel Fauré, though more at home with chamber music and song, was more interested in orchestral music than commonly believed.
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