Faure Nocturne from Shylock

Nocturne from Shylock

Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)

Although he would eventually create a true operatic landmark in his Penelope (1913), for many years Gabriel Faure never went beyond composing occasional sets of incidental pieces for theatrical productions, one of which would become his best-known orchestral composition, the Suite from Pelleas Et Melisande--- the very play which would be the basis for Debussy’s landmark opera of 1902, as well as orchestral works by Schoenberg and Sibelius.

An example of Faure’s incidental music is the set of pieces composed for an 1889 production of a play loosely based on Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice, Shylock.. One tiny movement, the jewel-like Nocturne is the best known of these pieces. Here, in a work for string orchestra, we hear Faure, the great melodist and composer of haunting songs (the glory of the French tradition of “melodies”), the violins soaring over a sustained, subtly-shifting harmonic background. This is indeed a genuine “song without words.”

NCO concert