De Soir

De Soir (FR) Of Evening. Debussy's setting (1893) for voice and piano of his own prose-poem. The poem owes a debt of influence to Symbolist poet Jules Laforgue (1860 – 1887), who wrote more than one poem titled »Dimanche,« which was the »ever-spleen day.« The music quotes from »La Tour prend garde,« a popular French song from a children's game in which one girl stands in the center (the »tower«) and the others circle about her, singing. Rare for the usually fastidious Debussy, but perhaps…