ABSTRACT
The most surprising realization about Gabriel Fauré’s chamber music is that, despite its having enjoyed genuine success at the time of its creation, it has not left much of a mark on the history of French music. 1 This may be due in part, as Jean-Michel Nectoux has pointed out, to the fact that Fauré himself never sought the recognition of the larger public. His status as a great composer was acquired only gradually through the emergence of his repertoire of compositions and by his reputation as professor and director of the Conservatoire. Fauré’s elevation to the rank of “master” was also encouraged, in a very particular way at that, by the innumerable writings about his compositions which appeared across the span of his career.
