FAUR

GABRIEL (1845– )  , French musical composer, was born at Pamiers on the 13th of May 1845 . He studied at the school of sacred music directed by Niedermeyer, first under Dietsch, and subsequently under Saint.-Saens . He became " maitre de chapelle " at the church of the Madeleine in 1877, and organist in 1896 . His works include a symphony in D minor (Op . 40), two quartets for piano and strings (Opp . 15 and 45), a suite for orchestra (Op . I2), sonata for violin and piano (Op . 13), concerto for violin (Op . 14), berceuse for violin, elegie for violoncello, pavane for orchestra, incidental music for Alexandre Dumas' Caligula and De Haraucourt's Shylock, a requiem, a cantata, The Birth of Venus, produced at the Leeds festival in 1898, a quantity of piano music, and a large number of songs . Faure occupies a place by himself among modern French composers . He delights in the imprevu, and loves to wander through labyrinthine harmonies . There can be no denying the intense fascination and remarkable originality of his music .

His muse is essentially aristocratic, and suggests the surroundings of the boudoir and the perfume of the hot-

house .