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
Au clair de la lune clair de la lune" as the basis of his song "Pierrot" ("Pantomime", L. 31) from "Quatre Chansons de Jeunesse". Erik Satie quoted this song in the section "Le flirt" (No. 19) of his 1914 piano collection "Sports et divertissements". In 1926, Samuel Barber rewrote "H-35: Au Claire de la Lune: A Modern Setting of an old folk tune" while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1928, Marc Blitzstein orchestrated "Variations sur 'Au Claire du la Lune'." In 1964, French pop singer France Gall recorded a version of this song, with altered lyrics to make it a love song.