General Overview

A late work by Fauré, it is virtually the only piece he composed specifically for the piano concerto format [Note]. Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), the pianist to whom the work was dedicated, mentioned it in the first volume of his book La musique française de piano (1930; Japanese translation French Piano Music 1, 1995). He commented that the work "does not exceed the character of chamber music" in that the orchestra remains a modest accompaniment and the solo part lacks "striking beauty or virtuosity." On the other hand, he highly praised its "restrained emotion and emotional elevation," which eschewed "easy charm."

Regarding this work, composed towards the end of World War I, musicologist Jean-Michel Nectoux interprets it as "directly reflecting the extreme state of mixed suffering and hope during the months of the Great War."

[Note] The Ballade, Op. 19 (arranged 1881), also known in a concerto format, is an arrangement by the composer himself of an earlier piano solo version (composed 1879).

Background of Composition

Sketching began in the spring of 1918, and the work was completed in early September in Évian, at the foot of the Alps.

As a factor leading Fauré to adopt the concerto form, which was unusual for him, Nectoux suggests the influence of advice from his publisher Jacques Durand (1865–1928) (Gabriel Fauré: Les voix du clair-obscur (1990); Japanese translation Biography of Fauré: Sounds of Light and Shadow (2000)). According to Nectoux, Durand's idea ultimately originated with Debussy. In his later years, Debussy had informed Durand, who was also his publisher, that he was planning a collection of concertos for piano and chamber orchestra. However, with Debussy's death in March 1918, this plan was then directed towards Fauré.

Composition appears to have proceeded largely smoothly, but the completion of the score was delayed, and ultimately, the orchestration was entrusted to a young composer named Marcel Samuel-Rousseau (1882-1955), who was teaching harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where Fauré was then director. The reasons behind Fauré's decision are attributed to his being preoccupied with the composition, premieres, and revivals of other works, such as the musical comedy Masques et Bergamasques, which was in progress concurrently, as well as his declining health and progressive hearing impairment. It is worth noting that, not limited to this Fantaisie, Fauré was known to frequently entrust the orchestration of his works to talented pupils and friends, including André Messager, Charles Koechlin, and Jean Roger-Ducasse.

In 1919, both the two-piano version arranged by the composer himself and the piano and orchestra version orchestrated by Samuel-Rousseau were successively published by Durand. On April 12 of the same year, an unofficial premiere took place at the Fauré Festival in Monte Carlo, performed by pianist Marguerite Hasselmans (1876-1947), Fauré's long-time mistress. Subsequently, on May 14, the official Paris premiere was given at the Société Nationale de Musique, with Cortot as soloist and Vincent d'Indy conducting.