Fauré: Two songs (L'Aurore; Au bord de l'eau) (viola)

Instruments: viola and piano

Catalogue no.: D1996-9

ISMN: 979-0-708807-58-2

These arrangements of two Fauré songs (from his “20 Mélodies”) are very effective and are relatively simple to play (there are only a few notes above first position). Gabriel Fauré was a French composer who was born in 1845 and died in 1924. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his teachers was Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. Fauré's music has been described as linking the end of romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th century. When he was born, Chopin was still composing, and by the time of Fauré's death, jazz and the atonal music of the Second Viennese School (e.g. Schoenberg and Webern) were being heard. A rendition of the original soprano version of Au bord de l’eau can be heard on this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys36VV7VOr8