Gabriel Fauré
Berceuse op. 16
Alongside weighty chamber music works such as piano quartets and violin sonatas, Gabriel Fauré also wrote several charming miniatures for violin and piano. Among these is his Berceuse op. 16 in D major, which fast became one of his best-known pieces following its first performance in 1880; countless arrangements were published.
Its melodic subject matter and colourful writing for the piano are reminiscent of Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, which he had composed shortly before. This Urtext edition is the first edition to make use of the autograph sketches of the original version for violin, as well as of the manuscript of Fauré’s own orchestration.
Read more about this edition in the Henle Blog.
About the Composer
Gabriel Fauré
Representative exponent of French music around 1900. His creative work is centered around the art song, piano music (nocturnes, barcarolles, impromptus, valse-caprice), and chamber music – alongside other genres.
| 1845 | Born in Pamiers (Ariège) on May 12, the son of a primary school teacher. |
| 1854–65 | Attends the École de musique classique et religieuse (founded by L. Niedermeyer), where liturgical musicians were educated; lessons with Saint-Saëns (from 1861). |
| 1866–70 | Organist at the church of Saint-Sauveur in Rennes. |
| 1871 | After occupying various organist positions in Paris, he becomes assistant organist to Saint-Saëns at Saint-Sulpice. He numbers among the founding members of the Société nationale de musique. Performances of his works in their concerts. |
| 1874 | Premiere of his “Suite d’orchestre” in F major (“Symphony No. 1”), which is a compilation of existing pieces. |
| 1875/76 | Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13. |
| 1876–79 | Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15 |
| 1877 | Maître de chapelle at Paris’s Église de la Madeleine. |
| 1876/78 | Premiere of his choral work “Les Djinns,” Op. 12. |
| from 1879 | Attends performances of Wagner’s music; in his own compositions he distances himself from Wagner. |
| 1885 | Premiere of his Symphony No. 2 in D minor, later destroyed. |
| 1887/88 | Requiem, Op. 48. |
| 1891 | “Cinq Mélodies ‘de Venise’,” Op. 58, on texts by Verlaine. |
| 1892–94 | “La bonne chanson,” Op. 61, on texts by Verlaine. |
| 1896 | Successor to Dubois at the Madeleine. He conducts a composition class at the Paris Conservatoire. |
| 1900 | Premiere of the tragédie lyrique “Prométhée,” Op. 82. |
| 1905–20 | Director of the Conservatoire. |
| 1909 | President of the Société musicale indépendante. |
| 1913 | Premiere in Monte Carlo of his opera “Pénélope.” |
| 1919 | Song cycle, “Mirages,” Op. 113, with clear features of his modernist late style. |
| 1924 | Death in Paris on November 4. |
About the Authors
Dominik Rahmer (Editor)
Dr. Dominik Rahmer, born in 1971 in Mainz, studied musicology, philosophy and maths in Bonn. He did his Magister Artium in 1999 and his doctorate in 2006 with a thesis on the music criticism of Paul Dukas.
From 2001 to 2011 he was employed at Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock in Berlin, where he also worked on the Critical Edition of the Works of Jacques Offenbach (OEK). Since 2011 he has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers in Munich, with a particular focus on French and Russian music and works for wind instruments.
Frank Peter Zimmermann (Fingering and bowing for Violin)
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