Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)

Lot 9
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1500 - 2000 EUR
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Autograph manuscript signed, Camille Saint-Saëns, [1922]; 7 pages in-4 on blue paper. Homage to his master and friend SAINT-SAËNS, who died on December 16, 1921. The article appeared in La Revue Musicale of February 1, 1922. The manuscript, in black ink on blue paper, paginated from 1 to 7, presents some erasures and corrections. After Niedermeyer's death in 1860, Saint-Saëns accepted the position of piano teacher at the Niedermeyer school and became the students' guide in composition. Taking up the piano himself, he introduced them to Schumann, Liszt, Wagner.... "I was fifteen and sixteen years old at the time and from that period dates the almost filial attachment - in spite of the few years that separated my age from his - the immense admiration, the infinite gratitude that I have kept for him all my life and which will only be extinguished with me. [...] His death has created unanimity and even universality in mourning and in praise". We must "designate him as the most complete musician we have ever possessed [...] Does not his knowledge, which knew no limits, his prestigious technique, his clear and fine sensibility, his conscience, the variety and the astonishing number of his works justify this title which makes him recognizable for ever? At the beginning of Saint-Saëns' career, the public was only interested in theater music, and Saint-Saëns dared to manifest his "irresistible penchant for pure music," developed through his study of the great classics. He rediscovered works of the past such as Mozart's Concertos, and made people hear "violently discussed works by Liszt and Wagner". Fauré pays tribute to the Société Nationale de Musique founded by Saint-Saëns, with Romain Bussine, Édouard Lalo and César Franck, which had an immense impact, and where many famous musicians got their start. He refutes "this opinion, too summary in my opinion, that in the music of Saint-Saëns the brain has more place than the heart. Could the pleasure of listening to one of these great orchestral works [...] be free of emotion and would the public acclaim such works if it were not deeply moved by them? Certainly, with Saint-Saëns, thought sometimes seems to have inhabited serene regions, similar to the Champs Élyséens, where violence and paroxysms are unknown, where gravity, wit, charm and smiling tenderness reign side by side. This atmosphere awakens feelings that one will perhaps call average feelings. They will have been enough, however, to inspire him with pages that are both delicious and lasting"... Fauré concludes by expressing his gratitude, and affirms "my constant admiration and the ineffaceable memory that I keep of his advice, his examples and his affection".
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