Clair de lune (Fauré) Clair de lune (Fauré) "Clair de lune", ("Moonlight") Op. 46 No 2, is a song by Gabriel Fauré, composed in 1887 to words by Paul Verlaine. The pianist Graham Johnson writes that it closes Fauré's second period and opens the doors into his third. Johnson notes that it is "for many people the quintessential French mélodie". The lyric is from Verlaine's early collection "Fêtes galantes" (1869). It inspired not only Fauré but Claude Debussy, who set it in 1881 and wrote a well known piano piece inspired by it in 1891. Fauré's 1887 setting is for voice and piano; in
Suite bergamasque animation for its intended segment (featuring herons in the Florida Everglades at night) being recycled for the "Blue Bayou" segment of the later film "Make Mine Music". However, the "Claire de lune" segment was later restored after a workprint of it was rediscovered in 1992, complete with original score by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and is included as a bonus feature in some later releases of "Fantasia". The 1953 ballet "L'ange gris" utilised orchestrations by André Caplet ("Clair de lune") and Gustave Cloëz (the other three pieces). "Passepied" has been arranged by the Punch Brothers for bluegrass instrumentation