The text for this piece is taken from five poems by W.H. Auden and one by Louis MacNiece.

The Complete Verlaine Settings (1887–1894) Critical edition-Gabriel Fauré’s seventeen settings of the poetry of Paul Verlaine mark the biggest single stylistic leap of his compositional career and arguably one of the high points of the entire art song repertoire. The present edition contains the three individual settings Claire de lune Spleen and Prison together with the Op. 58 “Venetian” Songs and the magnificient cycle La Bonne Chanson. With its focus both practical and scholarly this new Complete Edition of songs aims to encourage creative confident and well informed performance. Founded on study of hundreds of manuscripts and printedsources it has been tested internationally in masterclasses workshops seminars concerts and recordings. In this it takes a lead from the composer who prepared his own editions on the basis fo performing experience. The edition also assimilates interpretative insights from musicians who worked with Fauré as well as from his documented performing preferences.