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
Le voyage dans la lune (operetta) of the show, whose première raised 3,898 francs, led to the theatre's receipts passing 10,018 francs with its seventh performance. "Le Voyage dans la Lune" left its mark on the year in which it first appeared : seven Parisian winter revues in 1875-1876 made reference to it ("Voyage de la Lune à Paris", "Mme Angot dans la Lune", "Le Voyage du Soleil", "Les Voyageurs pour Belleville", "Les Voyageurs pour la Lune", "Allons voir la Lune, mon gars !", "La Lune à Paris"). The rôle of "Caprice" was portrayed by Mme Peschard from 16 December 1875 until 16 February 1876, since