Gottwald/Fauré: Deux Melodies

In the 1880s Fauré discovered the poetry of Paul Verlaine, which found its expression in the song cycle La Bonne Chanson [1892/93], upon which the present transcription of “La Lune blanche” is based. In this cycle Fauré pursued the plan to condense the songs into a cycle through thematic development. The cycle entitled Mirages was composed in 1919. In the last song, “Danseuse,” Fauré reduces the music to a bare rhythmic ostinato, which is maintained with slight alterations throughout the entire song. The frequent clashes of seconds in the harmony have not been softened in the transcription, for they lend the music a certain painful expression.