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 of Symphonies for brass, strings and timpani No. 1 a four-movement work that consists of the "Rondeau", which is a piece of music where the main theme or melody is repeated several times throughout; the second movement is the "Gracieusement sans lenteur"; the third movement is the "Allegro"; the final movement being the "Guay". The Symphony was written for Prince of Dombes, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France. Auguste had served under the military commander Prince Eugene of Savoy. Mouret dedicated this suite to his skill in battle, inspired by the Austro-Turkish War. Mouret first played this piece for King Louis XV in