Piano Quartet in C minor Op.15 (1876–83)

Fauré had years of trouble with his First Piano Quartet. Hoping for a quick consolidation of his success with his First Violin Sonata, which he had written in a few months when staying on the Normandy coast in the summer of 1875, he returned to the same place at the same time the following year to apply himself to the new work. Although the opening theme of the first movement did indeed come to him on the balcony of the house at St Adresse, it was not until three years later that he was able to complete the version of the work that was performed, with the Fauré himself at the piano, in Paris in 1880. He was so unhappy with the last movement, however, that he delayed publication for three years until he had replaced it by an entirely new one.

Whatever Fauré’s basic problem, it was clearly not a matter of melodic inspiration. Given the sturdy opening theme, he varies it and develops it so spontaneously and so imaginatively that he needs little other material to sustain the whole of the first movement. There is a second subject, a tenderly lyrical theme introduced on viola in the relative major, but it claims relatively little of the composer’s attention.

The two middle movements could scarcely be more different in mood and colour. The Scherzo in E flat major is an adroit and highly entertaining study in contradictory rhythms between piano and strings in the outer sections and a witty combination of undulating string melody and impertinent piano figuration in the middle section. The Adagio, on the other hand, is so starkly tragic in its C minor harmonies and so deeply serious in its melodic character that it is difficult to reconcile it with the carefree activities in the preceding Scherzo. A lovely episode in A flat major does, it is true, achieve a kind of serenity but, although the severity of the opening section is modified on its return, the serenity does not last.

The role of the finale is precisely to effect that unlikely reconciliation. The impulsive first theme incorporates elements of the main themes of both the opening Allegro and the Adagio and a lyrical major-key second subject is presented by viola as a parallel to that of the first movement. There is nothing here as playful as the Scherzo but there is, in the middle of the recapitulation, a strikingly poetic passage in which the piano very quietly toys with just the same kind of rhythmic contradictions as those which were featured earlier. The final reconciliation is a triumphant coda in which the two main themes of the finale are combined in positive C major harmonies.

Fauré had years of trouble with his First Piano Quartet. Hoping for a quick consolidation of his success with his First Violin Sonata, which he had written in a few months when staying on the Normandy coast in the summer of 1875, he returned to the same place at the same time the following year to apply himself to the new work. Although the opening theme of the first movement did indeed come to him on the balcony of the house at St Adresse, it was not until three years later that he was able to complete the version of the work that was performed, with the Fauré himself at the piano, in Paris in 1880. Even then he was so unhappy with the last movement that he delayed publication for three years until he had replaced it by an entirely new one.

Whatever Fauré’s basic problem, it was clearly not a matter of melodic inspiration. Given the sturdy opening theme, he varies it and develops it so spontaneously and so imaginatively that he needs little other material to sustain the whole of the first movement. Although there is a second subject, a tenderly lyrical theme introduced on viola in the relative major, it claims relatively little of the composer’s attention.

The two middle movements could scarcely be more different in mood and colour. The Scherzo in E flat major is an adroit and highly entertaining study in contradictory rhythms between piano and strings in the outer sections and a witty combination of undulating string melody and impertinent piano figuration in the middle section. The Adagio, on the other hand, is so starkly tragic in its C minor harmonies and so deeply serious in its melodic character that it is difficult to reconcile it with the carefree activities in the preceding Scherzo. A lovely episode in A flat major does, it is true, achieve a kind of serenity but, although the severity of the opening section is modified on its return, the serenity does not last.

The role of the finale is precisely to effect that unlikely reconciliation. The impulsive first theme incorporates elements of the main themes of both the opening Allegro and the Adagio and a lyrical major-key second subject is presented by viola as a parallel to that of the first movement. There is nothing here as playful as the Scherzo but there is, in the middle of the recapitulation, a strikingly poetic passage in which the piano very quietly toys with just the same kind of rhythmic contradictions as those which were featured earlier. The final reconciliation is a triumphant coda in which the two main themes of the finale are combined in positive C major harmonies.

Fauré had years of trouble with his First Piano Quartet. Hoping for a quick consolidation of his success with his First Violin Sonata, which he had written in a few months when staying on the Normandy coast in the summer of 1875, he returned to the same place at the same time the following year to apply himself to the new work. Although the opening theme of the first movement did indeed come to him on the balcony of the house at St Adresse, it was not until three years later that he was able to complete the version of the work that was performed, with the Fauré himself at the piano, in Paris in 1880. He was so unhappy with the last movement, however, that he delayed publication for three years until he had replaced it by an entirely new one. The Piano Quartet in C minor was first performed in its definitive version in 1884.

Whatever Fauré’s basic problem, it was not a matter of melodic inspiration. Given the sturdy opening theme, he varies it and develops it so spontaneously and so imaginatively that he needs little other material to sustain the whole of the first movement. There is a second subject, a tenderly lyrical theme introduced on viola in the relative major, but Fauré pays not much attention to it. Although it is the second subject that, on its recapitulation, persuades him to stay in C major rather than revert to C minor, it is a still further development of the first theme that finally confirms the change of heart.

The two middle movements could scarcely be more different in mood and colour. The Scherzo in E flat major is an adroit and highly entertaining study in contradictory rhythms between piano and strings in the outer sections and a witty combination of undulating string melody and impertinent piano figuration in the middle section. The Adagio, on the other hand, is so starkly tragic in its C minor harmonies and so deeply serious in its melodic character that it is difficult to reconcile it with the carefree activities in the preceding Scherzo. A lovely episode in A flat major does, it is true, achieve a kind of serenity but, although the severity of the opening section is modified on its return, the serenity does not last.

The role of the finale is precisely to effect that unlikely reconciliation. The impulsive first theme incorporates elements of the main themes of both the opening Allegro and the Adagio and a lyrical major-key second subject is presented by viola as a parallel to that of the first movement. There is nothing here as playful as the Scherzo but there is, in the middle of the recapitulation, a strikingly poetic passage in which the piano very quietly toys with just the same kind of rhythmic contradictions as those which were featured earlier. The final reconciliation is a triumphant coda in which the two main themes of the finale are combined in positive C major harmonies.

Fauré had years of trouble with his First Piano Quartet. Hoping for a quick consolidation of his success with his First Violin Sonata, which he had written in a few months when staying on the Normandy coast in the summer of 1875, he returned to the same place at the same time the following year to apply himself to the new work. Although the opening theme of the first movement did indeed come to him on the balcony of the house at St Adresse, it was not until three years later that he was able to complete the version of the work that was performed, with the Fauré himself at the piano, in Paris in 1880. He was so unhappy with the last movement, however, that he delayed publication for three years until he had replaced it by an entirely new one. The Piano Quartet in C minor was first performed in its definitive version in 1884.

Whatever Fauré’s basic problem, it was not a matter of melodic inspiration. Given the sturdy opening theme, he varies it and develops it so spontaneously and so imaginatively that he needs little other material to sustain the whole of the first movement. There is a second subject, a tenderly lyrical theme introduced on viola in the relative major, but Fauré pays not much attention to it. Although it is the second subject that, on its recapitulation, persuades him to stay in C major rather than revert to C minor, it is a still further development of the first theme that finally confirms the change of heart.

The two middle movements could scarcely be more different in mood and colour. The Scherzo in E flat major is an adroit and highly entertaining study in contradictory rhythms between piano and strings in the outer sections and a witty combination of undulating string melody and impertinent piano figuration in the middle section. The Adagio, on the other hand, is so starkly tragic in its C minor harmonies and so deeply serious in its melodic character that it is difficult to reconcile it with the carefree activities in the preceding Scherzo. A lovely episode in A flat major does, it is true, achieve a kind of serenity but, while the severity of the opening section is modified on its return, the serenity does not last.

The role of the finale is precisely to effect that unlikely reconciliation. The impulsive first theme incorporates elements of the main themes of both the first and the third movements. After more, variously disguised allusions to the opening theme of the work, a lyrical major-key second subject is presented by viola as a parallel to that of the first movement. There is nothing here as playful as the Scherzo but there is, in the middle of the recapitulation, a strikingly poetic passage in which the piano very quietly toys with just the same kind of rhythmic contradictions as those which were featured earlier. The final reconciliation is a triumphant coda in which the two main themes of the finale are combined in positive C major harmonies.

Gerald Larner©

Fauré had endless trouble with his First Piano Quartet. It was originally intended to consolidate the success of his First Violin Sonata, which he had written in a few months in 1875 in the summer home of admiring friends on the Normandy coast near Le Havre. Returning to Normandy in the summer of 1876, he was clearly hoping to find as much inspiration there as before    and, indeed, the opening theme of the Piano Quartet in C minor came to him on the balcony of the same house at Sainte-Adresse. After a couple of months in Normandy, he left for his parents’ home in Tarbes determined to finish the work before returning to Paris in October. It was not until three years later, however, that he was able to complete the version of the work which was performed, with the Fauré himself at the piano, at the Société nationale in Paris in 1880.

That was not the end of the composer’s troubles. Choudens, who published his songs happily enough, turned down the Piano Quartet in no uncertain terms. So too, though more tactfully, did the rival house of Durand. When Fauré persuaded Hamelle to buy it in 1880 he delayed publication for another three years by withholding the last movement, which he eventually discarded and replaced with an entirely new one. The work was first performed in its definitive version, again with the composer as pianist, at the Société nationale in 1884.

Whatever Fauré’s basic problem it was certainly not a matter of melodic inspiration. Given the sturdy opening theme – first presented on strings in unison over off-beat piano chords – he varies it and develops it so spontaneously and so imaginatively that he needs little other material to sustain the whole of the first movement. There is a second subject, a tenderly lyrical theme introduced on viola in the relative major, but Fauré pays comparatively little attention to it. While it is the second subject which, on its recapitulation, persuades him to stay in C major rather than revert to C minor, it is a still further development of the first theme that finally confirms the change of heart.

The two middle movements could scarcely be more different in mood and colour. The Scherzo in E flat major is an adroit and highly entertaining alliance of contradictory rhythms between piano and strings in the outer sections and a witty combination of undulating string melody and impertinent piano figuration in the middle section. The Adagio, on the other hand, is so starkly tragic in its C minor harmonies and so deeply serious in its melodic character that it is difficult to reconcile it with the carefree activities in the preceding movement. A lovely episode in A flat major does, it is true, achieve a kind of serenity, not least through the melodious exchanges of the strings over a broken-chord accompaniment on the piano. But, although the severity of the opening section is modified on its return, the serenity does not last.

Fauré’s long-term problem must have been in providing a finale which would effect that unlikely reconciliation. The discarded 1879 finale presumably did not. The 1883 finale, as published by Hamelle, surely does, if in a not very obvious way. The impulsive first theme, introduced by strings over piano arpeggios in C minor, incorporates elements of the main themes of both the first and the third movements. After more, variously disguised allusions to the opening theme of the work, a lyrical major-key second subject is presented by viola as a parallel to that of the first movement. There is nothing here as playful as the Scherzo but there is, in the middle of the recapitulation, a strikingly poetic passage in which the piano very quietly plays with just the same kind of rhythmic contradictions as those which were featured in that movement. The final reconciliation is a triumphant coda in which the two main themes of the finale are combined in glowingly positive C major harmonies.