| Notes: |
- The poet François Villon was one of the most colorful figures of fifteenth-century Europe; annals of his life are repeat with anecdotes of street altercations, intrigues with nobility and run-ins with legal authorities. Villon made many innovations in poetic form and subject, including an unusual focus on the peasantry and other commoners.
- Messiaen's setting of these poems occurred in the context of an early-twentieth Century resurgence in interest in Villon's life and work. In the first half of the century, this resurgence produced several plays, films and numerous song settings.
- Other twentieth-century composers to set Villon's poetry include Claude Debussy, Arthur Honegger and André Jolivet.
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