This paper investigates the multifarious recontextualizations of scale degree b7 in Lili Boulanger’s song cycle, Clairières dans le ciel (1914), revealing how they contribute to a structural narrative from start to finish. In particular, early melodic instances of the subtonic pitch at the beginning of the songs catalyze more severe harmonic appearances later and determine the key of the final song. The persistence and intensification of scale degree b7 across the cycle not only serves to unite the overall form but shapes the meaning of Francis Jammes’ text, resulting in a more satisfying reading of love lost. Because the subtonic usually appears as the pitch D in an E major context, absolute pitch becomes as important for Boulanger as it does for Debussy (DeVoto 2018). I adapt ideas from Almén (2008) and Stein (1983) and their ideas of musical narrative and subdominant expansion, respectively, to show how scale degree b7 1) generates a structural narrative and 2) functions beyond a V⁷/IV role. Unpacking the presence of scale degree b7 in this song cycle sheds light on other contemporary French composers who employ the subtonic at structural moments in the form (such as Duparc, Fauré, and Debussy).

Lili Boulanger’s 1914 song cycle Clairières dans le ciel carries the dedication “Au Maître Gabriel Fauré.” Given that Boulanger never studied directly with Fauré either privately or at the Conservatoire, the dedication could be read as a sign of her affection or esteem towards Fauré (a close family friend), rather than as a recognition of his influence on her compositional style. An examination of the techniques Boulanger used in Clairières dans le ciel, however, reveals numerous correspondences with Fauré’s use of motivic, harmonic, and formal processes in his song cycles, most notably La bonne chanson, Op. 61 (1894), and La chanson d’Ève, Op. 95 (1910). This paper argues that Boulanger’s song cycle reflects the compositional influence of its dedicatee Fauré to a degree not remarked upon in previous scholarship.

Stephen Rumph has written that “[t]he most novel feature of La bonne chanson, and Fauré’s singular contribution to the song-cycle genre, is the involved system of leitmotivs.” A comparison of Clairières dans le ciel with La bonne chanson reveals that not only did Boulanger adopt Fauré’s practice of using malleable motives to achieve structural unity in her cycle, she adopted some of Fauré’s actual motives themselves (most notably the "Mathilde," "Lydia," and "birdsong" motives). Clairières dans le ciel is thus suffused with intertextual references to La bonne chanson. Boulanger's cycle also replicates harmonic processes used in Fauré’s La chanson d’Ève, specifically the sequential transposition of motivic material through series of major and minor thirds.

Existing scholarship on Clairières dans le ciel has focused mostly on its complex web of motivic relationships, but less has been said about the work's close connection with Fauré’s song cycles. As we mark the centenary of Fauré’s death, this paper re-evaluates his influence on Boulanger by examining the many intertextual connections between their song cycles.