On today’s date in 1880, a quartet for piano and strings was premiered in Paris, with its composer, 24-year-old Gabriel Fauré, at the keyboard. Now in 1880, many Parisians knew two things about Fauré: first, that he was a talented pupil of Camille Saint-Saens; and second, that he had been engaged for years to Marianne Viardot, the daughter of legendary French singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and that Marianne had suddenly broken off the engagement, leaving the young man heartbroken.
French pianist Marguerite Long described the quartet’s slow movement as “the sorrowful echo of the breakup of Fauré’s engagement with Marianne Viardot,” reporting she could not hold back her tears when she once performed the work with Fauré turning pages for her.
But Faure’s friend and biographer Émile Vuillermoz would dismiss the suggestion with a loud French snort, protesting that “Fauré’s reserve always prevented him from following the example of Romantic artists who allowed the whole world to witness their personal frustrations. … He would never have allowed his private feelings to become a public spectacle!”
In any case, Fauré’s first Piano Quartet is now regarded as one of his early masterpieces, so perhaps it’s both: a breakup and break-away work.
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): Piano Quartet No. 1 (Domus Ensemble) Hyperion 66166