Shylock (Fauré)
The Shylock Suite, Op. 57, by Gabriel Fauré is a six-movement concert work from 1890. It combines four orchestral movements with two serenades for tenor with orchestral accompaniment. The suite comes from incidental music Fauré wrote the previous year for Edmond Haraucourt’s Shylock, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, staged at the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris. The original theatre music used a small orchestra, and Fauré expanded it for the concert suite, adding more instruments.
Odéon performances in 1889 were a success, running 56 performances. The music for the theatre had nine numbers, and from these Fauré created the six-movement concert suite for a full orchestra, with a solo tenor in two movements. The suite was first performed in Paris on 17 May 1890 by tenor Julien Leprestre with the Société nationale de musique, conducted by Jean Gabriel-Marie.
The score is for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, triangle, harp, and strings, and it lasts a little under 20 minutes. Including a soloist in the two vocal movements made some think the suite would be harder to program in concerts.
The two serenades use Haraucourt’s text, not Shakespeare’s. The first serenade begins with “Oh! les filles!” and is generally regarded as the stronger of the two vocal numbers; the second describes the beloved in vivid, but sometimes seen as less successful, terms. For the suite, the keys were changed from the Odéon version: the first serenade moved from C to B-flat, and the second from F to E-flat.
The Entr’acte, labeled in the Odéon score as a scene of the caskets, was meant as background music for Portia’s house and is mostly quiet, with occasional moments of brightness to match spoken dialogue.
The epithalamium (a wedding toast) movement follows Bassanio’s win and is praised for its rich orchestration and emotional intensity, with some critics noting Wagnerian warmth. The Nocturne, though shorter, is often considered the highlight of the suite and is one of Fauré’s loveliest theatre melodies.
The finale, originally titled Aubade, was rewritten for the suite to accompany the play’s last scene in which all the lovers come together. It showcases Fauré’s strong orchestration and lively energy, balancing two pleasant themes with exciting development.
The Shylock music has influenced later works; Balanchine used the orchestral music from the Shylock suite (and from Pelléas et Mélisande) in his ballet Jewels in 1967. The suite has been recorded many times, including a 1986 recording by Robert Irving and the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and a 2005 version with piano accompaniment. Four-hand piano transcriptions of four orchestral movements were prepared by Léon Boëllmann, and are often performed with piano duet versions of the two vocal pieces.
Excerpts from the suite have appeared on records over the years, with notable performances and arrangements for organ or cello and piano, showing the music’s enduring appeal.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:11 (CET).