Elégie

After composing his First Piano Quartet in 1879, Fauré planned to write a sonata for cello and piano. Completing its slow movement the following year, he then decided to present what he had already written as a stand-alone piece under the title Élégie. Following its publication in 1883, the Élégie quickly became one of the composer’s most popular works, so much so that Fauré was later persuaded to orchestrate the piano part. The Élégie was first heard in this version in 1901, with the famous cellist Pablo Casals as soloist. The work opens with a sombre and heartfelt theme on the cello accompanied by trudging, almost funereal quavers in the piano. A gentler, more decorative thematic idea, first heard in the piano and then passed onto the cello, provides contrast before the opening theme returns, this time projected in a stormy, impassioned manner. Calm is eventually restored with a wistful recall of the second idea. But the music ends in a mood of darkness and gloom.