Élégie
Gabriel Fauré
I first heard this beautiful yet elegantly simple tune at an FUMC virtual church service a year or so ago. It was performed by Erin Hall on cello and accompanied by Gabe Shuford on piano. In 2021, I finally got around to recording a truncated version for trombone accompanied by a string orchestra.*
* Roland JV-880
Who was Fauré?
Gabriel Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Fauré's music has often been described as linking the end of Romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th century.
About this Composition
In 1880, Fauré composed the Élégie for cello and piano. Originally, the composer intended the piece to be the slow movement of a cello sonata. However, the rest of the sonata never materialized, and Fauré made the movement an independent cello-piano piece dubbed Élégie.
It was first performed publicly in 1883 and was published the same year. In 1890, Fauré orchestrated the piano part, and in that version, the premiere featured Pablo Casals as soloist.