Fauré editions by Roy Howat
The following Fauré Critical editions and transcriptions by Roy Howat are published by Peters Edition (London):
Gabriel Fauré, Complete songs, in 4 volumes, each available for high or medium voice; the first complete critical edition, edited by Roy Howat & Emily Kilpatrick; EP 11391–4 a/b (high or medium voice), 2014–2022.
Volume 1 contains the songs up to 1883, Volume 2 the remainder up to 1919 except for song cycles; Volume 3 contains Fauré’s Complete Verlaine Settings (including the Cinq mélodies ‘de Venise’ and La Bonne Chanson), and Volume 4 the last four cycles (La Chanson d’Ève, Le Jardin clos, Mirages and L’Horizon chimérique).
Gabriel Fauré, 45 Vocalises (first publication), voice and piano, ed. Roy Howat & Emily Kilpatrick. Peters, EP 11385 (2013). This volume forms a complement to the Complete Songs, a marvellous vocal primer with beautiful music.
These volumes were produced as part of an interactive project based at the Royal Academy of Music, with research funding over 2010–13 from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The completeion of that project was followed in 2024, the centenary of Fauré’s death, by a selection from the above collection in
Gabriel Fauré: Centenary Songbook; 15 songs for voice and piano, edited by Roy Howat & Emily Kilpatrick (Faber Music, Edition Peters 2024; EP 20001/2, high/medium voice)
Other editions:
Complete Shorter Works for Cello. Peters Edition, EP 72686 (2015). This volume, containing all 7 of Fauré’s single pieces for accompanied cello or for 2 cellos, replaces earlier Peters Editions of those pieces.
13 Barcarolles for piano. EP 71904
This new edition corrects dozens of misleading errors (and countless more minor ones) in older editions, some of which bear importantly on tempo, structure and musical continuity, as well as casting new light on the magnificent Fifth Barcarolle. It replaces an older Leipzig Peters edition.
13 Nocturnes for piano. EP 7659
This edition incorporates literally hundreds of corrections never before printed, many from Fauré’s own pen, including 20 corrections on the first page of the First Nocturne alone. It replaces an older Leipzig Peters edition.
‘It is hard to offer sufficient praise and gratitude to both Roy Howat and Peters Edition for their superlative, much-needed new edition of Fauré’s 13 Nocturnes’ – Murray McLachlan in International Piano
Thème et variations for piano, op. 73. EP 7956
This new critical edition, based on eight important sources (six of them missed by a recent Henle edition), solves longstanding problems of tempo and structural coherence and offers hitherto unpublished variants indicated by Fauré to pianist colleagues.
Pièces brèves op. 84 (8 pieces) for piano. EP 7601
These enchanting and masterly short pieces, on a par with the late piano pieces of Brahms or Schubert, are an ideal introduction to Fauré, technically less demanding than the Nocturnes or Barcarolles (though they do pose a few enjoyable challenges, notably no. VII).
3 Romances sans paroles op. 17 for piano. EP 7711
which Marcel Proust loved and about which he once said something unprintably naughty
Anthology of Selected Pieces for Flute and Piano, 2 original pieces and 8 new transcriptions, including several first publications. EP 7514
Anthology of Pieces for Violin and Piano (Fauré’s complete pieces for violin & piano), 4 pieces, 1 in a first edition. EP 7515
Sonata no. 1 in A major, op. 13, for violin and piano. EP 7487
Incorporates hundreds of previously unpublished corrections, including Fauré’s violin writing before some passages were overwritten with virtuoso figurations by Hubert Léonard. More details can be read in the volume’s preface or in Roy’s article in The Strad, March 1998.
Dolly op. 56, suite for piano duet. EP 7430. This edition benefitted from information provided by Dolly herself (the daughter of Emma Bardac, and stepdaughter of Claude Debussy), whom Roy was lucky to know in his student years, when she was very ancient but absolutely alert.
‘Roy Howat has dug deeply and productively into the sources and produced a text of exemplary clarity. Buy it, play it, enjoy it and throw your old copy away’ – John York in Classical Piano
Also available in transcription for solo piano by Roy Howat: EP 7384
Pavane, op. 50, in transcriptions for:
- Flute, 2 singers and piano. EP 7526
- Solo piano, arr. Roy Howat and Wendy Hiscocks. EP 7383
- Flute and piano, in Anthology of Selected Pieces for Flute and Piano (see above)
These editions take account of Sir Adrian Boult’s memories:
‘I heard Fauré play the Pavane several times, with distinguished soloists like Gervase Elwes and Murray Davey, with Mrs George Swinton and others, and once Louis Fleury played the flute sitting by the composer and playing the tune from his piano copy. I will stake a good deal on the statement that Fauré played the Pavane no slower than crotchet [quarter] = 100!’ (letter to Robert Orledge, 1975).
Après un rêve, arranged for cello or viola or violin and piano. EP 7481.
Sicilienne, op. 80, arranged for violin or viola and piano. EP 7386
Sicilienne, op. 80, arranged for flute and piano in Anthology of Selected Pieces for Flute and Piano
‘Berceuse’ from Dolly (‘La Chanson dans le jardin’) arranged for violin and piano. EP 7624
Separate from the above Peters editions:
Piano Quintet no. 1 in D minor, op. 89. Editions Hamelle, Paris, 2006 (UK distribution by United Music Publishers).
This new edition solves serious problems that have left a great masterpiece largely neglected for more than 80 years. The main solution, a radical reappraisal of tempi suggested by source evidence, was tested in concert by Roy Howat with Prague’s legendary Panocha Quartet at festivals in Japan and the Czech Republic and at a sold-out Wigmore Hall in November 2005; played thus, the work is now again bringing the house down as it did at its 1906 Parisian premiere.