In the summer of 1919, Fauré's utterance became more withdrawn and contemplative, more simple and luminous. Having worked his old-masterly style to vigorous valedictions with the fiery First Cello Sonata and the great Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, and having gently closed the door on his career as "master of charms" with his largely retrospective Masques et bergamasques, he produced his song cycle, Mirages. While their vocal technique looks back to La Chanson d'Eve (1906-1910) in a chant-like projection of words and images, their form is tighter, their sparely expressive accompaniments more richly integrated, and their harmonic language developed with the utmost economy.

When his friend, Gabriel Hanotaux, showed him the newly published volume of Mirages by the Baronne Antoine de Brimont—a society dilettante—Fauré at once recognized a verbal suggestiveness admirably suited to his music. In "Cygne sur l'eau," the first of these songs, "The black swan swims towards the fleeing unknown." In "Reflets dans l'eau," the quietly anxious, wave-like, rocking accompaniment of "Cygne sur l'eau" becomes serene, though harmonized with subtle piquancy as the swan confronts "the azure depths of time gone by"—simply, tellingly, the ripples are reflected by the piano. This rare pictorial effect may be heard as a metaphor for the composer's dying words to his sons—"When I am no longer here you will hear it said of my works: 'After all, that was nothing much to write home about!' You must not let that hurt or depress you. It is the way of the world. ...There is always a moment of oblivion."

In the tranquil stillness of the "Jardin nocturne," earthly delights—"Your scents of iris, jasmine and roses, your somber charms of desire and boredom"—are met for the last time. The final mélodie, "Danseuse," calls up as from a great distance the lure of the erotic—the dance evoked powerfully with a laconic ostinato snap—to end as "wetness shines, a vain kiss, along your smooth thighs, vain dancer!"

Introduced to Fauré by her professor at the Conservatoire early in 1919, Madeleine Grey learned the difficult La Chanson d'Eve rapidly and with sufficient acuity to earn the composer's admiration when she performed it at a Fauré Gala on May 30, the composer at the piano. Fauré composed the Mirages specifically for her, and Mlle Grey gave their première at a Société Nationale concert on December 27, 1919, accompanied by Fauré—his last performance in that venue.

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