Here, under the instruction of Prony, Lagrange, and Monge, he studied higher mathematics, but without neglecting literature, and with Fontanes assistance translated a great part of the Æneid.
Of his verses the following line has alone survived:Le temps n'épargne pas ce qu'on a fait sans lui.Though forgotten as a mathematician and a poet, Fayolle has acquired a solid reputation for his services to musical literature.
He studied harmony under Perne, and the violoncello under Barni, but abstained from printing his compositions; and contented himself with publishing Les quatre Saisons du Parnasse (Paris, 1805–9), a literary collection in sixteen vols., 12mo, for which he wrote many articles on music and musicians.
He collected materials for a History of the Violin, of which, however, only fragments appeared, under the title Notices sur Corelli, Tartini, Gaviniés, Pugnani, et Viotti, extraites d'une histoire du violon (Paris, 1810).
Among his later works may be mentioned a pamphlet called Paganini et Bériot (Paris, 1830), and the articles on musicians in the supplement to Michaud's Biographie Universelle.