Drawn to music from an early age, Gabriel Fauré studied music at the École Niedermeyer with Camille Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns was somewhat unconventional, introducing his pupils both to the music of Bach and Mozart and the works of controversial artists like Wagner and Liszt, and Fauré proved equally willing to follow his own unique path. He eschewed the Conservatoire de Paris that most of his peers attended in favor of continued studies with Saint-Saëns, who helped him make connections and get his works published. Fauré eventually found his way to the Conservatoire as a professor of composition, serving as its director from 1905 to 1920. His students included Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.   

Fauré composed the Pavane in the late 1880s, right around the same time as the Requiem, another of his most famous works. Popular with the European aristocracy in the 16th and 17th centuries, the pavane was a stately processional dance with steps that moved both forward and backward—as Fauré described, “elegant…but not particularly important.” While he originally conceptualized the Pavane as a light instrumental work for a summer concert series, it took on extra gravitas after Fauré dedicated it to his patron, Countess Marie Anatole Louise Élisabeth Greffulhe. At this point, he added the option of an invisible chorus singing verse written by the countess's cousin, Robert de Montesquiou, as well as dancers. As Fauré described the collaboration,

de Montesquiou...has most kindly accepted the egregiously thankless and difficult task of setting to this music, which is already complete, words that will make our Pavane fit to be both danced and sung. He has given it a delightful text: sly coquetries by the female dancers, and great sighs by the male dancers that will singularly enhance the music. If the whole marvelous thing with a lovely dance in fine costumes and an invisible chorus and orchestra could be performed, what a treat it would be!

The orchestral and choral versions of the Pavane premiered in 1888. In 1891, with the support of the countess, the version with chorus and dancers was performed at one of her garden parties in the Bois de Boulogne. Drawing on the solemnity of the pavane, Fauré strikes a somber mood from the start with an exquisite and meandering flute line that mirrors the slow, inevitable progress of the dance. As other instruments take up the melody, the work's mounting intensity eventually transcends the boundaries of its modest scoring. 

—Jennifer More, ©2023