Maurice Rollinat

Poet, musician, and Chat noir cabaret artist Maurice Rollinat set Baudelaire to music a number of times during the 1880s. This chapter analyses two key sets of songs published in 1892: Six Poésies de Baudelaire and Six Nouvelles Poésies de Baudelaire. The analysis covers: (a) the context of composition; (b) the connections established between selected poems; (c) the statistical data generated from the adhesion strength tests; and (d) how the data shapes an evaluation of Rollinat’s settings of Baudelaire. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the settings are neither particularly disruptive nor especially cohesive (adhesion strength: loosely intermingled). A relatively high proportion of unexpected accentual stresses in the poetic line is mitigated by regular phrase lengths and breathing spaces. Rollinat’s settings demand a free approach to interpreting the printed score to achieve an accretive song; if the score is followed to the letter, it may create a dilutive song.