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Though trained at Louis Niedermeyer’s École
de Musique Classique et Religieuse, and long
known as a church musician, notably at the
Madeleine, Gabriel Fauré did not write a single
page of music for the organ, an instrument
he played almost every day. As a pianist,
eyewitnesses tell us, he was remarkable;
moulded by his teacher and friend Camille
Saint-Saëns, his playing was characterised by
depth of touch, regularity of tempo, attention
to the bass register, and the absence of all
outward effect: musical par excellence.