A brief mention should be made of these isolated pieces that complete Fauré's output for solo piano. They are not very significant products from his first creatIve period. The three Romances sans Paroles. though published in 1883 (but under the fairly low opus number 17), were most probably written some years before that date. They are unpretentinous, melodically attractive little pieces, which keep exactly the promise of their title. Though Fauré's personality at times asserts it self quite unmistakeably, they do not conceal their debt to Mendelsshon, at laest in the two outer pieces, both in A flat major. The second Romance, in A minor, more impassioned in expression, is closer to Schumann. Fauré's single Mazurka in B flat major, may also have been composed before the year of its publication 1883, for this least personal and least significant of all his Piano compositions cannot stand comparison with first Nocturnes, Impromptus or Valses-Caprices and its somewhat facile charms are not quite worthy of its composer.
Harry HALBREICH
Marinkyo's School > Gabriel Fauré > Harry Halbreich > Gabriel Fauré / Romances sans Paroles - Mazurka
