In the style of commedia dell'arte

In 1918 Gabriel Fauré, then 73 years old, received a commission from Prince Albert I of Monaco to write stage music invoking the atmosphere of the “commedia dell’arte”. The four-movement orchestral suite op. 112, consisting of “Ouverture”, “Menuet”, “Gavotte” and “Pastorale”, combines previously unpublished parts of this stage music.

The “Pastorale” of 1919 was Fauré’s last composition for orchestra, the “Ouverture” originated in a piece of 1864 for pia...