List C

Question 1

Who wrote Fantaisie op. 79?

Answer 1

Gabriel Faure

Question 2

When was Faure alive?

Answer 2

1845-1924

Question 3

Where was Faure born?

Answer 3

Ariege France

Question 4

Where did he study and who was his teacher?

Answer 4

He studied in Paris and his teacher was Camille Saint-Saens

Question 5

What positions did Faure hold in his career?

Answer 5

He held various positions as organist and composition teacher. He taught composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He became the director of the Conservatoire in 1905

Question 6

Who were some of Faure’s students?

Answer 6

Maurice Ravel, Charles Koechlin, Florent Schmitt and Nadia Boulanger

Question 7

How can you describe Faure’s writing style?

Answer 7

Faure composed pieces using small forms such as those used by the early Romantics like Mendelssohn and Chopin. His early compositions were firmly in the romantic tradition. He composed with scintillating (sparkling) virtuosity but in an elegant refined way. His melodies were graceful and his harmonies are sensuous.

Question 8

What techniques did Faure use to define his style?

Answer 8

Interchanging between the major and minor third chord from the same key and using scales with a flattened leading note. Some of his pieces have ideas from the whole tone scales and his writing anticipated Impressionism.

Question 9

What effect did Faure have on French music?

Answer 9

He was the most progressive French composer until Debussy’s mature compositions. His major works included a Requiem, the orchestral suit Pelleas et Melasande, two piano quintets and the song cycle La bonne chanson

Question 10

What s a fantaisie?

Answer 10

It is a piece of music that represents ‘flight of the fancy.’ It is often in a free formal structure and characterised by frequent or unexpected changes of key, meter and speed

Question 11

Why was Faure’s Fantasie op.79 composed?

Answer 11

It was composed as a contest piece for the Paris Conservatoire in 1898. It was dedicated to Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) a professor at the Paris Conservatoire and the founder of the modern French school of flute playing. The piece was commissioned by the Conservatoire, which was typical of contestant pieces and it contains two movements, slow then fast

Question 12

What were some characteristics of flute music at the end of the 19th century?

Answer 12

• Elegance and grace
• Lyrical, sensuous melodies, often with irregular phrase lengths
• Flowing accompaniment styles
• Rich harmonies, using chromaticism, frequent 7ths and added-note chords
• Use of modal scales and flattened 7th degrees

Question 13

What is the structure of the andantino movement?

Answer 13

It is an introductory movement in a free formal structure

Question 14

What does andantino mean?

Answer 14

A tempo that is slightly faster than Andante. And Andante is a walking (moderate) pace

Question 15

What key is the Andantino movement in?

Answer 15

E minor

Question 16

How does the accompaniment interact with the flute part?

Answer 16

The accompaniment is lilting and contains many 7th chords. It never strays far from E minor by there are many interrupted cadances, beginning with the dominant 7th chord of E minor than moving in unexpected harmonic directions. (Bars 10-11,14-15, 18-19 and 28-29)

Question 17

How are the themes broken up in the first movement?

Answer 17

1-14 Theme 1 in E minor, D minor then A minor
15-18 Theme 2 alternating A minor and E minor (the harmony comprising various 7th chords)
19-24 Theme 3, F major then G major
25-28 Embellishment of Theme 1, E minor
29-33 Embellishment of theme 2 A minor then E minor, ending with a perfect cadence in E minor
33-39 Codetta, E minor (without raised 7th i.e aeolian mode). Ends with a plagal cadence (with added 6th in the subdominant chord)

Question 18

What is the form of the second movement?

Answer 18

Modified Sonata form:
Exposition, Digression and Recapitulation

Question 19

What is the relationship between the keys in the first and second movement?

Answer 19

The relationship of a 3rd between the keys of the two movements (E minor - C major) was typical for the romantic period

Question 20

How were the themes structured in the exposition?

Answer 20

40-59 Introduction, based around the dominant 7th of C major
60-71 First Subject, beginning C major modulating to G major, ending with a perfect cadence
71-79 Transition theme, beginning in G major and returning to C major
80-87 Sequence based on first subject, in C major and D minor
107-116 Arpeggio figures and sequences in E minor
117-133 Second subject, expressivo, G major with perfect cadence in b. 1124-125 and much chromatic harmony
133-142 Sequence based on the second subject

Question 21

When does the digression appear and what does it do?

Answer 21

142-158 New theme in flute, then piano from b. 152, harmonised with many 7th chords

Question 22

What is the structure of the recapitulation?

Answer 22

159-163 First subject returns in the piano, in the “wrong” key of Eb major
164-172 First subject modified, C major
183-182 Transition theme, remaining in C major
183-207 Second subject in flute, now in C major, with a perfect cadence in b.190-191. The theme is taken over by piano in b.192 with leggiero countermelody in flute. Bars 197-198 are extended in b.199-207 using sequences
207-215 First subject C major, but sometimes with flattened 7th (mixolydian mode)
216-232 New theme, mostly C major though with many chromatic 7ths in the accompaniment, ending with a perfect cadence
232-250 Coda, based on the transition theme, all C major, mostly diatonic. Ends with a plagal cadence (with added 6th in the subdominant chord).

Question 23

What does leggiero mean?

Answer 23

Lightly and gracefully