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.