Fauré, Gabriel

Fauré, Gabriel

Fantaisie pour flute et orchestre Op. 79 (Piano Reduction/ Solo)

For more information on the piece:
The original version of Fauré’s ever-popular Fantaisie op. 79 was for flute and piano. Written for a flute competition at the Paris Conservatoire in July 1898 (won by Gaston Blanquart), it was published that same year by Julien Hamelle. Its dedicatee was Paul Taffanel, professor of flute at the Conservatoire. Taffanel is known to have made some alterations to the flute part, but – since the original manuscript of the work no longer exists – it is impossible to know their nature or extent. In 1958, Paris-based publisher Hamelle (later absorbed by Alphonse Leduc) also issued the version of the Fantaisie for flute and orchestra made by Louis Aubert that is presented here. According to Fauré scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux, this orchestrated version was premièred in February 1957 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Jean-Pierre Rampal was the flute soloist, and Fernand Oubradous directed the orchestra. The connections between Aubert and Fauré were many. As a boy, Aubert’s exceptional soprano voice led to him being chosen to sing the solo part in the ‘Pie Jesu’ of Fauré’s Requiem at its first performance in 1888. Aubert’s parents had not initially been keen for him to embark on a musical career, and it was through the intervention of an uncle that he was eventually enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11. His teachers there were Albert Lavignac (for harmony), Louis Diémer and Antoine-François Marmontel (both for piano), Benjamin Godard (for ensemble), Paul Vidal (for accompaniment) and, from 1892, Fauré for composition. Aubert appears to have been particularly admired by contemporaries for his skills as a score reader and pianist (he gave the first performance, and was the dedicatee, of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales), and in addition to his orchestration of Fauré’s Fantaisie he also arranged some of Chopin’s works in his ballet La nuit ensorcelée. A piano piece, Esquisse sur le nom de Fauré, was published in October 1922 as part of a special number of the Revue musicale dedicated to his teacher. Of his own works, the Habanera for orchestra is perhaps the best known. He also wrote an opera, La forêt bleue, which was premièred in Boston in 1913, and was the composer of a number of songs and song-cycles, including Rimes tendres and Crépuscules d’automne.

read full preface to full score /  Ganzes Vorwort zur Partitur lesen > HERE