Exploring the French Romantic Characteristics and Evolution of Fauré's Art Songs Based on a Historical Style Comparison Method

Abstract

This paper discusses the characteristics and evolution of French romanticism in the art songs of Gabriel Faure, a French composer, through the method of historical style comparison. Faure's art songs represent the uniqueness of the French musical style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his works have significant romantic characteristics in melodic lines, harmonic structures, rhythmic treatment and emotional expression. This study first reviews the historical background and basic characteristics of French romantic music, and then focuses on how Faure made innovations and breakthroughs under the framework of French Romanticism. By comparing with the art songs of contemporaneous composers (such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saens, etc.), this paper analyzes the uniqueness of Faure's musical language and its correspondence with the French romantic style. In particular, Faure's performance in the fluency of melody, the color of harmony, the freedom of rhythm and the deep integration of lyrics and musical emotions shows the artistic charm of his works. It also explores the stylistic evolution of Faure's art songs, from his early works to maturity, and reveals how he blended romantic emotional expression with the delicate language of modern music. At the same time, this paper also analyzes the influence of Faure on later composers, especially in the 20th century French music creation. Finally, this paper summarizes the unique position of Faure art song in the development of French Romanticism, and puts forward the possible direction of future research.