Masques et bergamasques

It was arranged by the composer from incidental music he provided for a theatrical entertainment commissioned for Albert I, Prince of Monaco in 1919.

In 1918 Raoul Gunsbourg, manager of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, invited Fauré to write a short work for the theatre.

[3] For the proposed "choreographic divertissement", also billed as a "comédie lyrique", he reused material from earlier compositions.

[4] Fauré proposed a story based on the poem "Clair de lune" from the collection Fêtes galantes by Paul Verlaine (1869).

[6] Fauchois' story has a commedia dell'arte troupe spying on the amorous encounters of aristocrats in its audience.

[8] 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.

[10] It is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, harp and strings.

[11] The suite ends with a movement in D major, in 6/4 time, marked Andantino tranqillo, at dotted minim = 46.

[18] As the movement nears its conclusion, Fauré brings back the opening theme of the ouverture as a countermelody.