ABSTRACT
In 1878 eight songs had been composed; in this chapter we consider twelve mélodies written within a span of six years, 1879–85 – a period in the composer’s life that is particularly poorly documented in terms of surviving letters and thus biographical information. These six years may not have been the most eventful in Fauré’s career, but they saw the consolidation of his reputation and a deepening of his art. There were an increasing number of performances of his works, and his music began to appear regularly in print. Two Baudelaire settings as well as one of Hugo’s L’Absent, and the more recently composed Sérénade toscane, were published by Choudens in January 1879; the first recueil of Vingt mélodies appeared under the Choudens imprint at the end of the same year, although by this time the composer was already considering a change of publisher and a move to Hamelle.
