Archangel: A Foray into Fauré

Fenella Humphreys (violin), Viv McLean (piano) and Fauré biographer Jessica Duchen mark the centenary of the composer’s death with a breathtaking musical love story. Drawing on Fauré’s letters to his fiancée, Marianne Viardot, and on Turgenev’s novella The Song of Triumphant Love, it has rarely been told before. Words and music in alternation build the narrative together, while the concert spotlights Fenella in some of the most thrilling French virtuoso violin works of the fin-de-siècle era. 

Director of the Paris Conservatoire where his nickname is The Archangel, Fauré was ultimately responsible for the pre-eminence of French music in the 20th century. It will be 100 years since his death in November 2024.

VIARDOT 6 Morceaux extract – No. 1 ‘Romance’ 

SAINT-SAËNS Danse macabre 

FAURÉ Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 13 

FAURÉ Après un rêve 

CHAUSSON Poème 

RAVEL Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré

RAVEL Tzigane

Viv McLean, piano

Fenella Humphreys, violin

Jessica Duchen, author/narrator

The concert will include a 20 minute interval during which refreshments will be available.