Ex. 11-7: Clair de lune

Debussy's revised setting of Verlaine's "Clair de lune," composed in 1891 as No. 3 of Fêtes galantes, Premier recueil (L. 80). This is a reworking of his earlier 1882 version. (Ex. 13-5: Clair de lune by Claude Debussy)

Verlaine's poem inspired Debussy three times: the 1882 song, the 1891 piano piece from Suite bergamasque, and this 1892 vocal setting. Fauré's 1887 setting of the same poem was the work that first brought Fauré and Verlaine's poetry together, introduced by Count Robert de Montesquiou. (Ex. 10-9: Clair de Lune by Gabriel Fauré)