The three great masters of French song were undoubtedly Faure, Duparc and Debussy. In each case, we find a superb achievement that is highly personal, and in each case a temperament and mentality essentially French. (David Cox, History of Song, 208)
Composed
only 17 songs, yet he is considered one of the finest mlodie composers ever.
Composed all songs between 1868 and 1884. He stopped composing entirely in 1885
after having a mental breakdown.
Chanson
triste *
Extase
Srnade
Florentine
Le
manoir de Rosemonde *
La
vague et la cloche
Testament
Soupir
lgie
Lamento
Au
pays o se fait la guerre
Phidyl
*
Linvitation
au voyage *
La
vie antrieure
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894)
Composed
only a small number of mlodies, all strophic. Songs show plenty of wit and
imagination despite the form.
Vincent dIndy (1851-1931)
Pupil
of Franck.
Lied
Maritime, op. 43, text by the
composer. This is among his best vocal works.
Composed about 40 mlodies. More romantic in style
that Faure or Debussy.
Gabriel Faur (1845-1924)
Composed
over 100 mlodies over about a 60 year period. Bernac states that there is a
steady progression to be seen in Faures songs, yet he was never influenced by
his contemporaries.
3
periods:
Early
period: 1863-1887:
This
period includes most of his best-known songs. These are mostly strophic in
form
and show a style similar to Gounod. A song like Lydia (1871) begins to
show
Faures own style.
1887-1906: Paul Verlaine: La bonne chanson, song cycle (9 songs).
Poems
come from Verlaines collection of poetry by the same title. Poems express
his love for Mathilde, his soon to be wife. The themes of the first eight
songs
are brought together for the ninth and final song, LHiver a cesse.
Originally
composed for voice and piano, later orchestrated for voice and strings
and
piano.
1906-1924: Four song cycles.
Faure
wrote nothing better than La bonne chansons. The song cycles that
follow
are simpler in style, more austere, more intensly personal in a way that
are
not always grateful. (p. 210)
La
chanson dEve ((1906-10)
Le
jardin clos (1915)
LHorizon
Chimerique (1922) Faures last vocal
work
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
No musician of any nationality had greater mastery in creating the mysterious alloy of music and poetry than Debussy. (P. Bernac, p. 154)
1876
Earliest song Nuit
detoiles (Banville)
1877/8 Beau soir
1880/3 First Verlaine settings
Pantomine
Mandoline
Clair
de lune (1st version)
1884
Apparition (Mallarme)
1888
Ariettes oubliees (Verlaine) 6 songs
1887/90 Cinq Poemes (Baudelaire) 5 songs
1891
7 songs
1892
Fetes galantes (1st book) (Verlaine)
En
sourdine
Fantoches
Clair
de lune
1892/3 Proses lyrique (Debussy) 4 songs
1897
Chansons de Bilitis (Louys)
1904
Deux Rondels de
Charles dOrleans
Fetes
galantes (2nd book)
(Verlaine)
Les ingnues
Le
faune
Colloque
sentimental
1910
2 song sets, 3 songs
each
1913
Trois poemes de
Stephane Mallarme
1915 Moel des enfants qui nont plus de maison (Debussy)