Hommages Musicaux

Ever since 16th century France the term tombeau (French for "tomb" or "tombstone") has denoted a set of poetic or musical compositions honoring the memory of a person, whether eminent or ordinary, real or imaginary. While the authorships of literary tombeaux were quite often collective, music tombeaux were usually created by individual composers and performers (i.e. Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin). It is no surprise that the death of the profoundly influential Claude Debussy (1862-1918) prompted Revue Musicale, a foremost music publication in Paris, to commission pieces from some leading European composers and performers, for a collection of works eulogizing the great composer. Each one of these musicians contributed to Tombeau in a unique and innately personal way, most of the works later becoming known as both individual pieces and parts of larger compositions). Encouraged by the success of Tombeau de Claude Debussy, Revue Musicale came up with another collection honoring the preeminent French composer and pedagogue Gabriel Faure (1845-1924). Composed by seven of Faure's best-known pupils (all French except for the Rumanian Enesco), the suite was completed and published by 1922, while the composer was still alive.