Sicilienne, Op.78

One of the most popular works by French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) is the Op. 78 Sicilienne. Fauré originally wrote the work in 1893 as incidental music to Moliere's drama Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, but the theatre went bankrupt before it could be performed. A few years later in 1898 the composer reworked the movement for cello and piano, at the same time making an orchestral version which he incorporated into the incidental music for Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande. In 1909 Fauré made this into a four-movement orchestral suite (Op. 80), with the Sicilienne as the third movement, where it attained its final form. Since then, transcriptions of the work have been made for a wide variety of instruments.The word sicilienne is the French term for the Italian siciliano, signifying a pastoral character piece. Its characteristic features are the time signature of 6/8 or 12/8, dotted rhythms, and an intimate yet often melancholy mood.