Ex. 1-7: Le papillon et la fleur

Fauré's very first song, composed when he was just 16 years old, published as Op. 1 in 1869. The text is from Victor Hugo's poetry collection Les Chants du Crépuscule (Songs of Twilight, 1835).

The poem is a dialogue between a flower, rooted to the ground, and a butterfly free to fly away — a metaphor for love between one who is bound and one who is free. Fauré composed it while studying under Saint-Saëns at the École Niedermeyer. He later spoke of it with some embarrassment as a youthful work, though its simple, Italianate charm has kept it beloved.

Track 1 from the album Icon: Elly Ameling by Elly Ameling and Dalton Baldwin (1991)
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