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[[File:Gabriel Fauré dans le jardin du Conservatoire.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=elderly man in a garden. He has a large white moustache, is holding a lighted cigarette, and is wearing a bowler hat|Fauré in the grounds of the [[Paris Conservatoire]], 1918]]
'''''Masques et bergamasques''''', [[Opus number|Op.]] 112, is an [[Suite (music)|orchestral suite]] by [[Gabriel Fauré]]. It was arranged by the composer from [[incidental music]] he provided for a theatrical entertainment commissioned for [[Albert I, Prince of Monaco]] in 1919. The original score contained eight numbers, including two songs for [[tenor]], and a choral passage. These numbers were not included in the published suite, which has four movements.
==History==
In 1918 [[Raoul Gunsbourg]], manager of the [[Opéra de Monte-Carlo]], invited Fauré to write a short work for the theatre.<ref>Nectoux, pp. 335–336</ref> The impetus came from Fauré's friend and former teacher [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], who suggested to Prince Albert that he should commission Fauré to write a short work for the Monte Carlo theatre. Fauré's opera ''[[Pénélope]]'' (1913) had been premiered there, and although he felt Gunsbourg had not fully appreciated the opera, Fauré accepted the new commission.<ref>Nectoux, p. 326</ref> He was director of the [[Paris Conservatoire]], and his official duties limited the time he had for composition.<ref>Jones, p. 110</ref> For the proposed "choreographic [[divertissement]]", also billed as a "comédie lyrique", he reused material from earlier compositions.<ref>Nectoux, pp. 337–338</ref>
Fauré proposed a story based on the poem "Clair de lune" from the collection ''Fêtes galantes'' by [[Paul Verlaine]] (1869).  Fauré had set the poem to music in 1887.<ref>Nectoux, p. 172</ref> The title of the new work was taken from the opening lines of the poem.{{refn|"Votre âme est un paysage choisi/Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques/Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi/ Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques." In English, "Your soul is a delicate landscape/Where roam charming masks and bergamasques/Playing the lute and dancing and seeming almost/Sad under their whimsical disguises".<ref name=ps/>|group= n}} The librettist of ''Pénélope'', [[René Fauchois]], provided a scenario accordingly. In the early 20th century the ''[[commedia dell'arte]]'' of the 16th and 17th centuries provided inspiration for a number of musical works, including [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]'s melodrama ''[[Pierrot lunaire]]'' (1912) and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]'s ballet ''[[Pulcinella (ballet)|Pulcinella]]''  (1920).<ref name=ps>Schiavo, Paul. Notes to Seattle Symphony Media CD SSM1004, 2014</ref> Fauchois' story has a ''commedia dell'arte'' troupe spying on the amorous encounters of aristocrats in its audience.<ref>Duchen, p. 196; and Nectoux, pp. 336–337</ref> The scenery for the production was based on [[Jean-Antoine Watteau|Watteau]]'s "L'Escarpolette".<ref>Nectoux, p. 338</ref>
The Monte Carlo production was such a success that [[Albert Carré]] put the work on at the [[Opéra-Comique]] in Paris in March 1920, where it was performed more than 100 times over the next thirty years. The Fauré scholar [[Jean-Michel Nectoux]] describes it as paradoxical that Fauré's most frequently performed stage work is also his least ambitious.<ref>Nectoux, p. 339</ref>
==Score==
The eight movements of the divertissement were almost all drawn from earlier works of Fauré:
# ''Ouverture'' (from an abandoned 1869 symphony)
# ''Pastorale'' (the only wholly new movement)
# ''[[Madrigal (Fauré)|Madrigal]]'' (Op. 35, 1884; for chorus and orchestra)
# ''[[Le Plus doux chemin]]'' (Op. 87, No. 1; for tenor and orchestra)
# ''Menuet'' (extensively reworked from the 1869 symphony)
# ''[[Clair de lune (Fauré)|Clair de lune]]'' (Op. 46, No. 2; for tenor and orchestra)
# ''Gavotte'' (from the 1869 symphony)
# ''[[Pavane (Fauré)|Pavane]]'' (Op. 50, 1887)
The suite drawn from the work has remained one of Fauré's most popular works. It was published by [[Auguste Durand|Durand et cie]] in 1919.<ref name=imslp/> It is scored for 2 [[flute]]s, 2 [[oboe]]s, 2 [[clarinets]], 2 [[bassoons]], 2 [[horn (instrument)|horn]]s, 2 [[trumpets]], [[timpani]], [[harp]] and [[String section|strings]].<ref name=imslp>[http://imslp.org/wiki/Masques_et_Bergamasques,_suite,_Op.112_(Faur%C3%A9,_Gabriel) "Masques et bergamasques"], International Music Score Library Project, retrieved 3 March 2018</ref> The suite, which has a typical playing time of about 14 minutes,<ref name=timings>Timings from recordings conducted by [[Ernest Ansermet]] (Decca CD 00028947854876, 2013), [[Neville Marriner]] (Decca CD 00028941055224, 2007), [[Michel Plasson]] (EMI CD 0724357373258, 2000), and [[Yan Pascal Tortelier]] (Chandos CD CHAN9416, 1995)</ref> consists of four of the purely orchestral movements:
;Ouverture
The movement is in 2/2 time in F major, marked [[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Allegro molto vivo]], with a [[metronome]] mark of [[minim (music)|minim]] = 152. It begins with a swift, light theme marked [[Glossary of musical terminology#L|leggiero]], and maintains an unflagging tempo throughout, including two passages marked [[Glossary of musical terminology#E|espressivo]].<ref>Fauré pp. 1–21</ref> After the first performance, Fauré wrote to his wife, "[[Reynaldo Hahn]] says that the ouverture sounds like Mozart imitating Fauré – an amusing idea."<ref>Southon, Nicolas, Notes to Alpha CD ALPHA228, 2016</ref> The typical playing time of the overture is about 3½ minutes.<ref name=timings/>
;Menuet
The second movement, in 3/4 time in F major, is marked [[Tempo di minuetto]] [[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Allegro moderato]], with a metronome mark of [[crotchet]] = 108. There are no dynamic extremes in the movement: the quietest marking is [[Dynamics (music)#Dynamic markings|piano]] and the loudest, [[Dynamics (music)#Dynamic markings|forte]].<ref>Fauré, pp. 22–35</ref> Nectoux comments that the movement verges on pastiche, and remarks that its most characterful phrase is taken note for note from Fauré's 1910 Preludes for Piano, Op. 103.<ref name=n338>Nectoux, p. 338</ref> The minuet has a typical playing time of little under 3 minutes.<ref name=timings/>
;Gavotte
The third movement is in D minor. It is marked [[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Allegro vivo]]; metronome, crotchet = 100. A middle section is marked by a switch to D major, before the movement resumes the first theme in D minor.<ref>Fauré, pp. 36–51</ref> Like the ouverture, the gavotte is taken from one of Fauré's earliest compositions. Nectoux refers to a piano version from 1869, and an orchestral version largely the same as in ''Masques et bergamasques'' in the Suite d'orchestre, Op. 20 (1873–74).<ref name=n338/> The typical playing time of the gavotte is a little over 3 minutes.<ref name=timings/>
;Pastorale
The suite ends with a movement in D major, in 6/4 time, marked [[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|Andantino]] [[Glossary_of_musical_terminology#T|tranqillo]], at [[Dotted note|dotted]] minim = 46.<ref>Fauré, p. 52</ref> The Pastorale is the only part of the suite specially written for the 1919 divertissement. Nectoux rates it as "vintage Faure", citing "consecutive block harmonics, wide melodic leaps … the juxtaposition of melodic segments to form the exposition and the ease with which the developments unfold". In his view, the sweetness of the movement is tempered by  expressive harmonic clashes such as D sharp against E natural, and C sharp against D natural.<ref name=n337>Nectoux, p. 337</ref> As the movement nears its conclusion, Fauré brings back the opening theme of the ouverture as a countermelody.<ref>Fauré, p. 61</ref> The movement ends quietly, but in Nectoux's view the composer was right to move the Pastorale from its place near the beginning of the divertissement to be the last movement of the suite: "without doubt the crowning glory of ''Masques et bergamasques''", and Fauré's "final farewell to the orchestra".<ref name=n337/> The Pastorale is the longest of the four movements in the suite, with a typical playing time of about 4 minutes.<ref name=timings/>
==References==
==Notes, references and sources==
===Notes===
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===References===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book|last= Duchen |first= Jessica |author-link=Jessica Duchen |year= 2000 |title= Gabriel Fauré |location= London |publisher= Phaidon |isbn= 978-0-7148-3932-5}}
* {{cite book|last= Fauré |first= Gabriel |year= 1920|title= Masques et Bergamasques. Suite d'orchestre |location= Paris |publisher= A. Durand et fils |oclc= 844205321}}
* {{cite book|last= Jones |first= J. Barrie |year= 1989|title= Gabriel Fauré&nbsp;– A Life in Letters |location= London |publisher= B T Batsford |isbn= 978-0-7134-5468-0}}
* {{cite book|last= Nectoux |first= Jean-Michel|year= 1991 |title= Gabriel Fauré&nbsp;– A Musical Life |location= Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-521-23524-2|others=[[Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|Roger Nichols]] (trans)}}
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[[Category:Compositions by Gabriel Fauré]]
[[Category:Orchestral suites]]
[[Category:1919 compositions]]
[[Category:Incidental music]]
[[Category:Works by René Fauchois]]