Gabriel Fauré is a French composer whose refined music embodies the aristocratic values of the French tradition. Fauré’s style is based on a simple lyrical melody and a serene mood, avoiding any display of virtuosity. Primarily a composer of lyrical piano pieces and chamber music, he also wrote several larger works, including the Requiem (1887), a work of transparent sadness and hope. “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest,” said the composer. The composer’s distinctive treatment of the theme of death has led him to abandon some of the dramatic movements that belong to this genre. This expressed the composer’s view of death as a blissful liberation and the pursuit of happiness beyond.