Prelude

A vivid portrait of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) emerged in the last century, replacing the vague profile that had coalesced from misconceptions.Caricatures of the musician as a salon composer and Impressionist misled many.Claims that his work was exclusive, elusive, and evasive did disservice.Even well-meant contentions of neglect diminished Fauré's reality and repertoire.Today, we recognize Gabriel Fauré as an early Modernist -an emblematic artist from an extraordinary era in French culture who developed a distinctive dialect, formed a faithful following, and left a lasting legacy. 1 What prompted this new view?Advocacy brought change.Marguerite Long (1874-1966) championed Fauré's music for six decades as a pianist and teacher. 2 Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) did so as a conductor and teacher.3 Each embraced Fauré's art as a cause.Both knew it intimately and authoritatively through study with its source.But they were not alone.Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) accompanied Pierre Bernac (1899-1979) on concert tours throughout Europe and North America for a quarter century, effectively promoting Fauré by performing his predecessor's mélodies alongside his own with the era's preeminent 1 Émile Vuillermoz, who studied composition with Gabriel Fauré, recognized his teacher's modernity.See his Musiques d'aujourd'hui (Paris: Crès, 1923), 4 and 11, and especially his Histoire de la musique (Paris