The occupation of Gabriel Faur?s a composer of songs for voice and piano traverses six a long time (1862-1921); virtually the entire heritage of French m?die is contained inside of those parameters. within the 1860s Faur?the lifelong prot? of Camille Saint-Sa?, was once a suavely precocious scholar; he used to be a part of Pauline Viardot's circle within the 1870s and he approximately married her daughter. Pointed towards symbolist poetry by means of Robert de Montesquiou in 1886, Faur?as the favoured composer from the early Nineties of Winnarretta Singer, later Princesse de Polignac, and his songs have been respected by means of Marcel Proust. In 1905 he grew to become director of the Paris Conservatoire, and he composed his such a lot profound song in previous age. His lifestyles, progressively efficient and outwardly imperturbable, was once undermined through self-doubt, an unsatisfied marriage and a sad lack of listening to. during this special learn Graham Johnson areas the vocal tune inside of dual contexts: Faur? personal existence tale, and the parallel lives of his many poets. We come across such giants as Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine, the patrician Leconte de Lisle, the forgotten Armand Silvestre and the Belgian symbolist Charles Van Lerberghe. The chronological diversity of the narrative encompasses Faur? first poet, Victor Hugo, who railed opposed to Napoleon III within the 1850s, and the final, Jean de los angeles Ville de Mirmont, killed in motion within the First global conflict. during this finished and richly illustrated learn each one of Faur? 109 songs gets a separate statement. extra chapters for the coed singer and severe track lover talk about interpretation and function in either aesthetical and sensible phrases. Richard Stokes offers parallel English translations of the unique French texts. within the twenty-first century musical modernity is evaluated otherwise from how it used to be assessed thirty years in the past. Faur?s not simply a 'Master of Charms' circumscribed via the belle ?que. His prestige as an excellent composer of timeless