Nocturne No.11 fis-moll Op.104-1 - Fauré, Gabriel

Fauré, Gabriel : Nocturne No.11 fis-moll Op.104-1

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Work Overview

Music ID : 181

Composition Year：1913　
Publication Year：1913
First Publisher：Durand
Instrumentation：Piano Solo　
Genre：nocturne
Total Playing Time：4 min 30 sec
Copyright：Public Domain

nocturne

Piano Solo

piano solo

fis moll

Commentary (2)

Author : Shiraishi, Yuriko

Last Updated: May 20, 2014

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Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

“En souvenir de NOÉMI LALO” (In memory of Noémi Lalo) (*). Nocturne No. 11, the only one among Fauré's 13 nocturnes to bear a special title, was composed in 1913, the same year as Barcarolles Nos. 10 and 11. In March of that year, his opera Pénélope, which he had begun in 1907, premiered. This event prompted Fauré to resume composing piano works, a genre he had somewhat distanced himself from since 9 Préludes, Op. 103 (1909-1910).

The details of Noémi and Fauré's direct relationship remain unclear. However, it is easy to imagine a close relationship between Noémi and Fauré, given that she was the wife of Pierre Lalo (1866-1943), son of the composer Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) and a music critic for the newspaper Le Temps, and that her mother was the vocalist Henriette Fuchs, who frequently premiered Fauré's songs.

* The cover of the autograph manuscript, held at the Morgan Library in New York, bears an alternative inscription: "à la mémoire de Noémi Lalo".

Writer: Shiraishi, Yuriko

Author : Shiraishi, Yuriko

Last Updated: May 20, 2014

[Open]

Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

A work in ternary form (ABA'-Coda) consisting of 72 measures. Each section comprises: A from measures 1-18, B from measures 19-38 (beginning with the tempo marking 'cantando'), A' from measures 39-58, and the Coda from measures 59-72. However, due to the consistent use of specific melodies and syncopated rhythmic motifs throughout the piece, the thematic contrast is not as pronounced as seen in Nocturne No. 7 and earlier works. Philippe Fauré, Gabriel Fauré's second son, in describing the character of his father's Nocturnes, regarded this work as a 'pure elegy' (※1), aptly capturing its minor-key sonorities and understated structure.

Nevertheless, Fauré attempted to incorporate climaxes into the piece during its compositional process:

The first is the triplet rhythm appearing in measure 16. In the autograph manuscript, the motif of an eighth note plus a sixteenth note from the preceding measure (measure 15) was initially continued directly. Although this is crossed out, it indicates that the two-measure descending phrase from F-sharp5 to F-sharp4 in measures 16-17 of the final version was originally contained within a single measure. By incorporating triplets into measure 16 of the final version, the number of measures leading to the 'cantando' section beginning in measure 19 was extended, creating a more distinct phrase division.
The second is measure 31. Originally, the music proceeded directly from measure 30 to measure 32 (beginning on C-sharp5), but this section was also rewritten, adding measure 31 (beginning on E5). In other words, the beginning of the phrase was raised to a higher register, thereby intensifying the musical tension.

Following these climaxes, the final coda concludes quietly, with motifs fragmented like ripples. Regarding the change in texture here, the British scholar R. Tait and Jean-Michel Nectoux have noted that the gently undulating harmonies anticipate Fauré's late songs (※2).

※1 Philippe Fauré-Fremiet, Gabriel Fauré, 2e éd., Paris, Albin Michel, 1957, pp. 138-139.

※2 Robin Tait, The Musical Language of Gabriel Fauré, Ph. D. Thesis, University of St-Andrews, 1984: New York, Garland, 1989, p. 285. See also, Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 300-301.

Writer: Shiraishi, Yuriko