1873-1875 Paul Verlaine spent 555 days in prison because he had shot his fellow poet and companion Arthur Rimbaud with a revolver whilst in a drunken state. This spell in prison evidently fostered his artistic inspiration, so at least it did his literary career some good. The world of French literature even gave Verlaine the unofficial title “Prince des Poètes”. In the poem Prison the author was able to draw on his very own experiences: the monotony behind bars (expressed musically in Gabriel Fauré’s setting through the repeated target note of b), the inner rebelling against this monotonous stillness (surprising forte dynamic), and the reproachful self-questioning: “Was hast du getan? ... Was hast du mit deiner Jugend getan?” [What have you done? ... What have you done with your youth?] (diminishing piano). These art songs were originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted them to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD "Kennst du das Land ..." (Carus 83.495).