Ex. 9-9: Beau Soir

Set to a poem by Paul Bourget from his 1882 collection Les Aveux (Confessions). Long thought to have been composed around 1880, making it one of Debussy's earliest works, the dating has been revised: the autograph manuscript that surfaced at auction in 2018 bears the inscription "J. 91" — January 1891. Debussy was 29 when he wrote it.

The poem describes a beautiful evening — rivers turning pink in the sunset, a warm breeze over the wheat fields — and tells us to be happy while the evening is beautiful. It ends on a darker note: we pass away as the rivers do — the rivers to the sea, and we to the grave.

Though written for voice and piano, the song is just as well known as an instrumental piece. The violinist Jascha Heifetz arranged it for violin and piano in 1935, and it has become a favorite encore for violinists and cellists.

From the album Nuit d'étoiles – Mélodies françaises by Véronique Gens and Roger Vignoles (2000)
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