Ex. 9-10: Le Parfum impérissable

No. 1 of Fauré's Deux Mélodies (Op. 76), composed in 1897 to a poem by Leconte de Lisle. Fauré dedicated this deep, serious song to the Italian composer Francesco Paolo Tosti. That was a surprising choice, because Tosti was famous for light, easy-to-enjoy songs like "Ideale" — not serious ones like this. (Ex. 7-8: Ideale by Paolo Tosti)

This song is a turning point in Fauré's style. From here on, his music grew quieter and more restrained, with richer, more surprising harmonies — the sound of his later years.

The poem says love is like a perfume that never dies. A bottle of rose perfume may break and spill on the sand, but the perfume still stays in the dust. In the same way, a lost love never leaves the heart.

By 1897 the poet, Leconte de Lisle, had been dead for three years. Fauré had been setting Leconte de Lisle's poems since the start of his career, around 1870. This late song was one of his last settings of a poet he had loved for many years. Two of the earlier ones, "Lydia" and "Nell," are also in this app. (Ex. 2-8: Lydia by Gabriel Fauré, Ex. 12-6: Nell by Gabriel Fauré)

From the album Icon: Elly Ameling by Elly Ameling and Dalton Baldwin (1991)
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