One of the most gifted composers of the French school, Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) created distinctive music strikingly original in texture, melody, and harmony. According to Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Fauré's music "reflected French civilization at its most fastidious."This handsome and affordable volume unites two of Fauré's superb orchestral works in one convenient, authoritative edition. Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80, composed in 1898, is a four-movement suite for orchestra written after Fauré's incidental music for the drama by Maurice Maeterlinck -- a tragic tale that later inspired Debussy's opera of the same name. The volume also includes Fauré's enormously popular Pavane, Op. 50, one of the most performed short orchestral works in the repertoire.