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
Caucasian Sketches, Suite No. 1 near the end, when after a second cadenza, slows its tempo down again. The title of a third, "In a Mosque", reflects the abundance of mosques in the once Turkish Caucausus and Circassia, and the listener can hear the Muezzin's call to prayer in the music. The most famous and admired portion is the final piece, "Procession of the Sardar", a Persian title for a military commander, leader or dignitary. Notable recordings of this suite include: Caucasian Sketches, Suite No. 1 "Caucasian Sketches, Suite No. 1", Op. 10 (Russian: "Кавказские эскизы, Сюита №1") is an orchestral suite composed in 1894