Claude Debussy on Music Theory Print

Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinsky)

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Conception#

The ballet was developed as a possible new production for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Michel Fokine choreographed most of the dances that the company performed. Fokine had originally worked as a choreographer with the Imperial Russian Ballet. In addition to Fokine, all the different specialists for the new ballet company had also come from the Imperial Russian Ballet company. Initially, the Ballets Russes took advantage of the 3 months summer break when the Imperial ballet closed and its staff were free to do other things. The Ballets Russes used this time to stage their own ballets and operas in Paris. Diaghilev began looking around for an alternative to the style which Fokine customarily delivered before deciding to allow his senior male dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, to try his hand at choreography. Diaghilev, Nijinsky, and Bakst developed the original idea for The Afternoon of a Faun. The artwork on ancient Greek vases and Egyptian and Assyrian frescoes, which they viewed in the Louvre museum, was their source of inspiration. Nijinsky’s aim was to reproduce the stylised look of the ancient artworks on the stage. In his portrayal of the faun, Nijinsky managed to reproduce exactly the figure of a satyr shown on Greek vases in the Louvre.

Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins)

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Background and development#

Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem L’après-midi d’un faune, about a faun’s encounter with nymphs. The first ballet set to the score was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and premiered in 1912. This ballet was scandalous due to its overtly sexual nature. In 1948, Robbins joined the New York City Ballet soon after it was founded, as both a dancer and choreographer. For New York City Ballet’s 1953 season, Robbins decided to choreograph to the Debussy score. He was inspired by watching Edward Villella, then a seventeen-year-old student at the School of American Ballet, Robbins also considered Johnson, who attended the School of American Ballet, and had previously danced in Robbins’ Ballade as a guest artist. Jowitt also noted that perhaps Robbins was just experimenting with Johnson. Robbins ultimately chose the Dominican-born Francisco Moncion, for his “animal” quality. Robbins was unsure whether the mirror of the dance studio should be straight front, where the audience would be at, or at the side, right-angled to the audience. He made both versions, and chose to use the straight front version. He explained, “When the dancers’ attention is to the side, it’s easier for the audience to watch - they are sort of looking in - but when it’s straight front, I think something more arresting happens.” Le Clercq recalled that Robbins completed the ballet quicker than his other works she was familiar with. She also said that she was given very few acting notes from Robbins. The costumes were designed by Irene Sharaff, with the woman in a practice tunic and the man in tights and bare-chested. The set and lighting was by Jean Rosenthal. Robbins showed Rosenthal a drawing of dancers in a studio by Paul Cadmus. She then conceived the idea of using white silk as the wall. Instead of the French title used in both the poem and the score, Robbins gave the ballet a stripped-down English title, Afternoon of a Faun.

Ariettes oubliées

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History#

The six ariettes were composed mainly in Rome and Paris during the year, 1886. The first two were completed in March 1887, with the others following close behind. They were re-published once again in 1903 under the official title of: Ariettes oubliées. Once published officially, Verlaine’s poetry was brought back into the spotlight. This was largely due to Debussy’s meticulous approach to composing for previously published text. Never before had words and music been so carefully and consciously paired. However, after this period of time, Debussy’s compositions for piano and voice declined. The exact reason for this is unknown. Although, many speculate that Debussy might have been left uninspired by the lack of a talented singer in his proximity. Additionally, Symbolist circles that Debussy was a part of were strongly critical of language during the time, which more than likely contributed to the lack of compositions. Debussy did not compose for piano and voice again until 1910 when he set François Villon’s poetic, final last statement to music. The song cycle was dedicated to the singer Mary Garden, who was known for performing as Mélisande, a role from one of Debussy’s operatic works. The poetry of Paul Verlaine had a more profound influence on Claude Debussy’s music than did Debussy’s closest literary or musical acquaintances. Debussy and Verlaine were both inspired by subtlety and nuance. Each man sought to innovate by using rhythm and tone color as the basis for a new form of a pre-existing art. In the Ariettes oubliées, subtlety, nuance, rhythm and tone color (timbre) converged to create a mature compositional style for Debussy, which, in turn, gave a heightened level of understanding to Verlaine’s poetry. This collection of songs set the tone for all of Debussy’s future vocal compositions in terms of rhythm, harmony, tone, color and attention to poetic detail.

Beau soir

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Description#

“Beau soir” (“Beautiful Evening”) is set to a poem by Paul Bourget. The poem paints the picture of a beautiful evening where the rivers are turned rose-colored by the sunset and the wheat fields are moved by a warm breeze. Debussy uses a gently flowing triplet rhythm in the accompaniment, which contrasts the duplets that drive the light melody. The piano and voice partner to create the sensation of peace that one might feel in the evening in nature, fitting the post-Romantic style. As any evening fades, however, so does the mood of the piece, and the song modulates from E major to F minor. The piece reaches its climax when the melody reaches a high F, paired with the word “beau”, about two-thirds through the piece, before entering its modulated conclusion.

Cello Sonata (Debussy)

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History and background#

Debussy composed the cello sonata as the first in a project, Six sonatas for various instruments, to compose six sonatas for different instruments. It was prompted by a performance of the Septet by Saint-Saëns, inspiring Debussy to write chamber music again which he had neglected since his string quartet of 1893. Diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1910, he had not composed at all. Debussy’s publisher Durand encouraged the project, planned as an homage to 18th-century composers Couperin and Rameau. Throughout his career, he preferred the French keyboard music of the 18th century over German romanticism. Remaining in the French tradition was also a political statement during the World War. He described himself as a French musician on the title pages of project pieces. Debussy planned three movements, as in French traditional sonatas. He had written many works in three movements such as Pour le piano, En blanc et noir, and Iberia. Debussy composed the Cello Sonata as the first of the set within a few weeks in July at the Normandy seaside town of Pourville. He wrote to his publisher Durand on 5 August that he would send the manuscript of what he described as a sonata in “almost classical form in the best sense of the word”. It was printed in December 1915. Despite other information, the sonata was premiered in London’s Aeolian Hall by cellist C. Warwick Evans and Ethel Hobday on 4 March 1916. It was played at the Casino Saint-Pierre in Geneva, performed by cellist Léonce Allard and Marie Panthès. It took until 24 March 1917 for the French premiere which was given in Paris by cellist Joseph Salmon and Debussy. The cellist Louis Rosoor claimed in program notes that Debussy related the music to the character Pierrot of the commedia dell’arte, and wanted to name the sonata Pierrot Angry at the Moon. The cellist seems to have invented this, writing: “Pierrot wakes up with a start and shakes off his stupor. He rushes off to sing a serenade to his beloved the moon who, despite his supplications, remains unmoved. To comfort himself in his failure he sings a song of liberty.” Debussy confirmed in a letter to Durand dated 16 October 1916 that the cellist had visited him the previous night, and seemed to have misunderstood him and the music. Debussy dedicated the sonata, and actually the complete project, to his wife Emma, writing "" (The six sonatas for various instruments are offered to honour Emma-Claude Debussy. Her husband.). He completed only three of the six planned sonatas, a second for viola, flute and harp in October 1915, and the third, a violin sonata, in the winter of 1916–17. In 2008 Bärenreiter published a critical edition of the sonata, edited by Regina Back. She used Debussy’s sketches from a private collection for the first time, dealing with the balance of the instruments and attempting to clarify ambiguities in the autograph and the first edition, many of which remain unresolvable. The cello sonata became a staple of the modern cello repertoire and is commonly regarded as one of the finest masterpieces written for the instrument.

Children's Corner

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History#

Debussy composed Children’s Corner between 1906 and 1908. He dedicated the suite to his daughter, Claude-Emma (known as “Chou-Chou”), who was born on 30 October 1905 in Paris. She is described as a lively and friendly child who was adored by her father. She was three years old when he dedicated the suite to her in 1908. The dedication reads: "" (To my dear little Chouchou, with tender apologies from her father for what follows). The British premiere was given on 12 September 1911 at the Promenade Concerts, under the baton of Henry Wood.

Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire

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Songs#

“Le Balcon” # “Harmonie du soir” # “Le jet d’eau” # “Recueillement” # “La mort des amants”#

Composition#

The composition of the Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire extended over more than a year: “La mort des amants” was completed in December 1887, “Le balcon” in January 1888, “Harmonie du soir” in January 1889, and “Le jet d’eau” in March of the same year. “Recueillement” is an undated melody. Debussy transcribed “Le jet d’eau” for voice and orchestra in 1907.

Dances for Harp and String Orchestra

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Background#

By 1904 Claude Debussy was established as one of France’s leading composers. His 1902 opera Pelléas et Mélisande had brought him international fame, and he had been appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur the following year. Gustave Lyon, director of the Pleyel harp-making company, had invented a new type of instrument – the chromatic harp – with no pedals but with an additional set of strings, slanting across the others, enabling harpists to play any note in the chromatic scale with either hand. Lyon commissioned Debussy to write a work for the new instrument, originally for the competitions at the Brussels Conservatoire, where a class had been established for the study of the ancient harp in its modernised form.

Debussy Mélodies

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Recording#

The album was recorded using analogue technology in April 1971, January and December 1977, October and December 1978 and January and February 1979 in the Salle Wagram, Paris.

Cover art#

The covers of the LP and CD versions of the album both feature a photograph by Lauros-Giraudon of a detail of Tête de jeune fille vue de profil by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944), a painting in the Musée Rigaud, Perpignan.

En blanc et noir

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History#

Debussy composed En blanc et noir at his vacation residence on the Normandy coast between 4 and 20 June 1915. He was suffering from cancer. France had been at war since 3 August 1914, and emotions were heated against everything German. Conservative romantic Camille Saint-Saëns, complaining about the style of the music, condemned the work, saying “We must at all costs bar the door of the Institut de France against a man capable of such atrocities; they should be put next to the cubist pictures.”

Estampes

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Music#

Estampes consists of three movements:

I. Pagodes#

Pagodes evokes Indonesian gamelan music, which Debussy first heard in the Paris World Conference Exhibition of 1889. It makes extensive use of pentatonic scales and mimics traditional Indonesian melodies. As it is an Impressionistic work, the goal is not overt expressiveness but instead an emphasis on the wash of color presented by the texture of the work. Debussy marks in the text that Pagodes should be played (nearly without nuance). Such rigidity of rhythm helps to reduce the natural inclination of pianists to add rubato and excessive expression.

Études (Debussy)

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Context#

In the years leading up to World War I and the composition of his Études, Debussy faced numerous challenges despite widespread recognition of his work across Europe and the United States: Pelléas et Mélisande was performed in Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan, Munich, and New York City. Although theater directors and concert organizers invited him to present his works from 1907, his career encountered new difficulties. The premiere of Le Martyre de saint Sébastien on 22 May 1911 was a failure. According to Jean Barraqué, “the reception was mixed” due to the “pretentiously mystical poem” by Gabriele D’Annunzio. Jeux, premiered by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on May 15, 1913, met with “a lukewarm, even indifferent public: some applause, some boos”. This same public elevated Igor Stravinsky to prominence with the scandal of The Rite of Spring, premiered two weeks after Jeux. Critics and audiences perceived Debussy as “declining”, while Maurice Ravel and Stravinsky were “rising”. Although Vladimir Jankélévitch argues that “it would be wrong to think Ravel surpassed Debussy in a kind of arms race where Stravinsky then outdid him” in exploring new harmonies, the rivalry between the two French composers peaked in 1913, when Ravel composed his Trois poèmes de Mallarmé simultaneously with Debussy’s . Stravinsky recalled that “in 1913, Debussy and Ravel were not speaking”. Jankélévitch acknowledges that “it is possible that the hardening of Debussy’s late works was largely due to Ravel’s influence”. Debussy’s personal and financial situation deteriorated sharply after the death in February 1907 of a wealthy uncle of his wife Emma Bardac, who was disinherited. The uncle, who “always disapproved of his niece’s relationship with a composer who, unlike Richard Strauss, could not earn a living, let alone support his wife and daughter”, bequeathed his fortune to the Pasteur Institute. Consequently, Debussy accepted all concert invitations despite his aversion to public appearances and lack of experience as a conductor.

Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (Debussy)

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Instrumentation#

The Fantaisie is scored for: :piano solo; :3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais (English horn), 2 (soprano) clarinets in B, 3 bassoons, bass clarinet in B; :4 (French) (valve) horns in F, 3 trumpets in F; :2 harps; :strings (1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses).

Structure#

The Fantaisie is in three movements, as in a traditional concerto, with the first movement in sonata form, a slow, calm middle movement, and an energetic finale. This despite the title, a fantasia is traditionally in a single movement with several sections of vastly different character, and contains no “sonata form”. The title Fantaisie was given to this work because it is in cyclic form: it uses the same two themes in all three movements. A typical performance lasts approximately 25 minutes.

Fêtes galantes (Debussy)

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History and analysis#

The six poems come from Verlaine’s collection Fêtes galantes, published in 1869. Debussy, a lifelong admirer of Verlaine’s poetry, had taken a copy of the collection with him when he went to study in Rome in 1885. The critic Jacques-Henri Bornecque called Verlaine’s book a “petite suite”; it contains twenty-two poems, mostly quite brief, representing varied scenes or encounters ranging from tender to ironic, inspired by Antoine Watteau’s Fête galante paintings.

Images (piano suite)

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Structure#

Book 1 (or “1st series”) (L. 110) # “Reflets dans l’eau” (Reflections in the water) in D major # “Hommage à Rameau” (Tribute to Rameau) in G minor # “Mouvement” (Movement) in C major
Book 2 (or “2nd series”) (L. 111) # “Cloches à travers les feuilles” (Bells through the leaves) in B whole-tone (the middle section is in E major) # “Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut” (And the moon descends on the temple that was) in E minor # “Poissons d’or” (Golden fish) in F major
Images oubliées (L. 87) # “Lent (mélancolique et doux)” (Melancholic and sweet) in F minor # “Souvenir du Louvre” in C minor # “Quelques aspects de parce qu’il fait un temps insupportable” (We will no longer go to the woods because the weather is unbearable) in D minor No. 2 is the first version of “Sarabande” from Pour le piano (L. 95, 1901); no. 3 is an early version of “Jardins sous la pluie” from Estampes (L. 100, 1903).

Inspirations and musical analysis#

“Reflets dans l’eau” is one of the many pieces Debussy wrote about water; in particular, light reflecting off its surface. The piece creates an image of water being not quite still, then becoming rapid, then decreasing in motion again. “Reflets dans l’eau” is also an example of the new tone colours Debussy discovered for the piano in this part of his life, and it is considered to be one of his greatest works for the instrument. Techniques such as arpeggio, pedal-point, staccato, and glissando are used to depict moving water. “Cloches à travers les feuilles” was inspired by the bells in the church steeple in the village of Rahon in Jura, France. Rahon was the hometown of Louis Laloy, a close friend of Debussy and also his second biographer. The name of the piece, which evokes images of East Asia, was suggested by Laloy, a sinologist. The piece is evocative of Indonesian gamelan music, which famously influenced Debussy. “Poissons d’or” was probably inspired by an image of a golden fish in Chinese lacquer artwork or embroidery, or on a Japanese print. Other sources suggest it may have been inspired by actual goldfish swimming in a bowl, though the French for goldfish is ‘poisson rouge’ (red fish).

Images pour orchestre

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Scoring#

Images pour orchestre is scored for a large orchestra consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, oboe d’amore, cor anglais, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets (in C), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, field drum, tambourine, castanets, 2 harps, celesta, triangle, xylophone, cymbals, 3 bells, and strings.

I. Gigues (1909–1912)#

The original title of Gigues was Gigues tristes. Debussy used his memories of England as inspiration for the music, in addition to the song “Dansons la gigue” by Charles Bordes which are used as key themes. Revolving around Gigues are musical cells which give a sense of unity to the piece. Most are short motifs which appear once or twice or are reused in fragments throughout the piece. Other themes are long solo passages written particularly for the oboe d’amore. There is debate over the role of André Caplet in the orchestration of Gigues. Robert Orledge and Williametta Spencer have accepted that Caplet assisted with the orchestration. According to François Lesure, however, the manuscript score in the Bibliothèque nationale (MS 1010) shows no evidence of Caplet’s involvement.

Jeux

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Scenario#

According to Nijinsky’s Diaries, made during the weeks before his psychological breakdown, Diaghilev intended the music to describe a homosexual encounter between three young men, and Nijinsky wanted to include an airplane crash. The final version of the story involved a man, two girls, and a game of tennis. The scenario was described to the audience at the premiere as follows: The scene is a garden at dusk; a tennis ball has been lost; a boy and two girls are searching for it. The artificial light of the large electric lamps shedding fantastic rays about them suggests the idea of childish games: they play hide and seek, they try to catch one another, they quarrel, they sulk without cause. The night is warm, the sky is bathed in pale light; they embrace. But the spell is broken by another tennis ball thrown in mischievously by an unknown hand. Surprised and alarmed, the boy and girls disappear into the nocturnal depths of the garden.

L'enfant prodigue (Debussy)

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Synopsis#

At sunrise Lia (soprano) laments the absence of Azaël (tenor), her prodigal son, an outcast after leaving his home to pursue the world’s pleasures. Siméon (baritone) is weary of her constant thinking of Azaël. After the appearance and dance of young villagers, Azaël enters, and is joyfully reunited with his mother. She urges Siméon to forgive and welcome him home which he does, calling for a feast of celebration and singing praises to God.

L'isle joyeuse

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Exposition, bars 1–98#

The introduction creates a whole tone context. This changes to an A Lydian context which, in bars 15–21, transitions, through the addition of G natural, to the whole tone context of a new motive at bar 21. This A Lydian context serves to transition from the whole tone mode on A to the A major context, inflected by occasional Lydian Ds, of the second theme at bar 67.

La boîte à joujoux

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La chute de la maison Usher (opera)

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Composition#

Debussy had long been fascinated by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, familiar to French readers through the translations by Charles Baudelaire. As early as 1890, André Suarès wrote in a letter to Romain Rolland that “Monsieur Claude Debussy … is working on a symphony that will unfold psychological ideas based on the stories of Poe, in particular, The Fall of the House of Usher.” Nothing came of this plan but in the wake of the success of his only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, Debussy turned to Poe for material for a potential successor. He worked on his first attempt at a Poe-inspired opera, the comedy Le diable dans le beffroi, for several years before finally abandoning it in 1911 or 1912. By mid-June 1908 Debussy had begun another opera based on a Poe tale, the darker Fall of the House of Usher. On 5 July he signed a contract with the New York Metropolitan Opera guaranteeing the house the right to stage the premiere of his projected Poe double-bill as well as another unwritten opera La légende de Tristan. That summer he wrote to his friend Jacques Durand: “These days I have been working hard on The Fall of the House of Usher… There are moments when I lose the feeling of things around me and if the sister of Roderick Usher were to come into my house, I shouldn’t be very surprised.” In 1909 Debussy wrote that he had almost finished Roderick Usher’s monologue: “It almost makes the stones weep … as a matter of fact it is all about the influence of stones on the minds of neurasthenic people. The mustiness is charmingly rendered by contrasting the low notes of the oboe with the harmonics of the violin (a patent device of my own).” Debussy had believed he had been subject to neurasthenia but around this time his doctor diagnosed him as suffering from the rectal cancer which was to kill him. According to Robert Orledge, “Debussy began increasingly to identify with Roderick Usher, whose mental breakdown Poe had identified with the crumbling House itself.” Debussy made three attempts at writing a libretto. Only when he was satisfied with the third one did he produce a short-score draft of the music to the first scene and part of the second in 1916–17. He went no further with Usher before his death in 1918.

La Damoiselle élue

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History#

Claude Debussy was interested in the symbolist movement and later took inspiration from a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé for his Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894). Reading an anthology of English poetry translated by Gabriel Sarrazin, “Poètes modernes d’Angleterre” (1883) gave Debussy the idea of composing a cantata on the poem “The Blessed Damozel” (1850) by Pre-Raphaelite poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Debussy had probably not seen Rossetti’s painting of the same title, but other pre-Raphaelite illustrations with a focus on “a new type of feminine beauty”. The work is dedicated to composer Paul Dukas. Debussy sent his music score to the Académie des beaux-arts as an entry for the Prix de Rome. It was published in 1892. Debussy revised his orchestration for the piece in 1902, It was the first of Debussy’s works for orchestra to be performed. Some critics, however, reproached the work as being “very sensual and decadent” (“très sensuelle et décadente”).

La mer (Debussy)

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Background and composition#

La mer was the second of Debussy’s three orchestral works in three sections, the other being Nocturnes (1892–1899) and Images pour orchestre (1905–1912). The first, the Nocturnes, premiered in Paris in 1901 and though it had not made any great impact on the public, it was well-reviewed by musicians including Paul Dukas, Alfred Bruneau and Pierre de Bréville. Debussy conceived the idea of a more complex tripartite orchestral piece and began work in August 1903. He began composing the work while visiting his parents-in-law in Burgundy; by the time it was complete, he had left his wife and was living with Emma Bardac, who was pregnant with Debussy’s child. Although the detailed scheme of the work changed during its composition, Debussy decided from the outset that it was to be “three symphonic sketches” with the title La mer. In a letter to André Messager, he described the planned sections as “Mère belle aux Îles Sanguinaires”, “Jeu de vagues”, and “Le vent fait danser la mer”. The first of these, inspired by a short story of the same name by Camille Mauclair, was abandoned in favour of a less restrictive theme, the sea from dawn to midday. The last was also dropped as it was too reminiscent of ballet and the less specific theme of the dialogue between the wind and the sea took its place. Debussy completed La mer on 5 March 1905 and took the proofs to correct on holiday at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne on the English Channel coast when he went there on 23 July 1905; he described Eastbourne to his publisher, Durand, as “a charming peaceful spot: the sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness”. He arranged the piece for piano four hands in 1905;

La plus que lente

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Style#

Despite its title, La plus que lente was not meant to be played slowly; “lente,” in this context, refers to the valse lente genre that Debussy attempted to emulate. Typical of Debussy’s caustic approach to naming his compositions, it represented his reaction to the vast influence of the slow waltz in France’s social atmospheres. However, as Frank Howes noted, “La plus que lente is, in Debussy’s wryly humorous way, the valse lente slow waltz to outdo all others.”

Le diable dans le beffroi

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Composition history#

Debussy began the piece after the success of his opera Pélléas et Mélisande in 1902 and worked on it until around 1912 but he never completed the score. He planned to make the chorus the only singing part and have the devil of the title whistle. He described his conception of the devil’s character in a letter to André Messager in June 1902: The Devil is represented as cynical and cruel – much more devilish than the red, brimstone-breathing clown that has, so illogically, become a tradition with us. I should also like to put an end to the idea that the Devil is the spirit of evil. He is simply the spirit of contradiction; perhaps it is he who inspires those who do not think like everybody else. Debussy’s scenario for the opera is dated 25 August 1903. The composer used some musical material from the opera for a short piano piece, Morceau de concours, published in January, 1905. In 1908, the Manhattan Opera House scored a great success with the American premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande, prompting the director of the rival Metropolitan Opera, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, to offer Debussy a contract for three unfinished opera projects, including Le diable dans le beffroi (the others were La légende de Tristan and La chute de la maison Usher). Nevertheless, the work was never to be completed, although on 31 March 1912 the composer played some extracts on the piano for Henri Busser. All that survives are three pages of musical sketches lacking text, which apparently date from August 1903.

Le Martyre de saint Sébastien

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Background#

The work was produced in collaboration between Gabriele D’Annunzio (at that time living in France to escape his creditors) and Claude Debussy, and designed as a vehicle for Ida Rubinstein. Debussy’s contribution was a large-scale score of incidental music for orchestra and chorus, with solo vocal parts (for a soprano and two altos). Debussy accepted the commission in February 1911. Some of the material was orchestrated by André Caplet. The premiere had sets and costumes designed by Léon Bakst, stage direction by Armand Bour and choreography by Michel Fokine. The orchestra was conducted by André Caplet, and Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht directed the chorus. Alongside Rubinstein as Saint Sébastien, Adeline Dudlay sang La Mère douloureuse, Véra Sergine sang La Fille malade des fièvres, Ninon Vallin was the off-stage voice, Desjardins was the emperor, and Henry Krauss was the préfet. Though the first Gabriel Astruc production was attended by scandal (the Archbishop of Paris requested Catholics not attend because the dancer playing St. Sebastian was a woman and a Jew), the work was not successful and did not enter the repertoire; thanks to Debussy’s score, however, it has been recorded in abridged and adapted versions several times, notably by Charles Munch (in French), Leonard Bernstein (sung in French, acted in English), and Michael Tilson Thomas (in French). The days leading up to the first performance, which took place on 22 May 1911 at Théâtre du Châtelet, the Archbishop of Paris, Léon-Adolphe Amette, threatened excommunication for any Catholic who attended the performance, due to the work mixing the sacred and the profane too much, not clearly opposing pagan forces towards Christianity, and even suggested an assimilation of Adonis, the handsome youth who fell for Aphrodite, to Sebastian. Moreover, Sebastian was portrayed by Ida Rubinstein, a Jewish woman. Though Debussy’s complete score still exists and can be performed in its original form (including linking narration taken from the original play, if the story is not staged), the work is very seldom heard in this way. More often performed is a four-movement orchestral suite made up of music extracted from the score and subtitled ‘Fragments Symphoniques’ (Symphonic Fragments). In addition, there are also two short brass fanfares which are sometimes presented with the symphonic fragments. Though the play was not a success, the suite was given a British premiere on 24 August 1915 at the Promenade Concerts at Queen’s Hall, under the baton of Henry Wood.

Nocturnes (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Three Scenes at Twilight”#

Based on comments in various Debussy letters and in Léon Vallas’s biography, Régnier was a symbolist poet, and his poems contain vivid imagery and dreamlike associations of ideas. In a letter to Jacques Durand on 3 September 1907, Debussy writes “I am more and more convinced that music, by its very nature, is something that cannot be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms”; he found suitable material in the imagery of these poems. Debussy may have begun creating the work for an intended performance in New York City, promoted and sponsored by Prince André Poniatowski, a banker and writer, and a confidant to whom Debussy frequently expressed himself in long letters. The New York performance was to consist of the premiere of Debussy’s Fantaisie for piano and orchestra completed two years earlier, a rather traditional work in classical form but a tradition which Debussy in the next two years would reject and musically move away from (resulting in the Fantaisie never being performed or published in his lifetime); his experimental oratorio La Damoiselle élue, from four years prior, also still unperformed as yet; and the Twilight Scenes, which Debussy told the prince were “pretty much finished” even though he hadn’t put anything on paper yet. The American concert deal fell through. Debussy was already working with difficulty on his opera Rodrigue et Chimène, a biography of El Cid; it has been said that he eventually destroyed its complete score because he felt he could no longer write “that kind of music” to “that kind of literature”, but his biographer says he merely concealed them and they remained in private collections. He was also working on another orchestral triptych after a cycle of three poems by another symbolist poet, Stéphane Mallarmé, called L’après-midi d’un faune, that was more in keeping with the new style of music and inspiration Debussy was seeking. He had in fact asked Henri de Régnier, a close associate of Mallarmé, to inform the latter of his interest in setting the poems to a new kind of musical impression. Mallarmé was vehemently opposed to juxtaposing poetry and music and was strongly against Debussy’s compositional idea. After Mallarmé heard the completed Prélude based on his first poem, however, Debussy had evidently caused him to completely reverse his belief, as he expressed his astonishment in lavishing praise and admiration in a personal letter to the composer.

Nuit d'étoiles

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lyrics#

Nuit d’étoiles, Sous tes voiles, Sous ta brise et tes parfums, Triste lyre Qui soupire, Je rêve aux amours défunts. La sereine mélancolie Vient éclore au fond de mon cœur, Et j’entends l’âme de ma mie Tressaillir dans le bois rêveur. Nuit d’étoiles … Je revois à notre fontaine Tes regards bleus comme les cieux; Cette rose, c’est ton haleine, Et ces étoiles sont tes yeux. Nuit d’étoiles … Night of stars, Beneath your veils, beneath your breeze and fragrance, Sad lyre That sighs, I dream of bygone loves. Serene melancholy Now blooms deep in my heart, And I hear the soul of my love Quiver in the dreaming woods. Night of stars… Once more at our fountain I see Your eyes as blue as the sky; This rose is your breath And these stars are your eyes. Night of stars…

Pelléas et Mélisande (Herbert von Karajan recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recording#

The album was recorded using analogue technology in December 1978 in the Philharmonie, Berlin.

Critical reception#

Lionel Salter reviewed the album on LP in Gramophone in December 1979, comparing it with an earlier recording of the opera conducted by Pierre Boulez. Frederica von Stade wrote, “well conveys Mélisande’s wide-eyed innocence and simplicity by her purity of voice and lightness of tone, and makes credible the transition from the startled gazelle of the opening to the awakening woman of Act 4”. Richard Stilwell was equally well cast as a keen, lively, likeable, Pelléas, rhapsodic in his two brief erotic climaxes. His bariton-martin negotiated Pelléas’s tricky tessitura without any signs of strain. As Golaud, José van Dam gave a “distinguished” performance, equally convincing in the Prince’s inability to understand Mélisande, his chilling passive aggression and his paroxysms of murderous fury. Christine Barbaux was an “effective and unaffectedly childlike” en travesti Yniold, and there was no cause for complaint either about Nadine Denize’s Geneviève. The only soloist who was significantly disappointing was Ruggero Raimondi. It was not his fault that his Arkel sounded too much like Pascal. Thomas’s physician in their scene at Mélisande’s death bed, but he should have defined the King’s character more clearly, and he should have been more conscientious in observing Debussy’s meticulously crafted speech rhythms (a sin of which some of his colleagues were guilty too, although not to the same extent). Conducting a “uniquely subtle score” in which “understatement was customary”, Herbert von Karajan presented an interpretation that was “decidedly unorthodox” to the point of blatantly defying some of the dynamics that Debussy had stipulated. His Pelléas “seethes with barely-suppressed tensions which constantly erupt in passionate outbursts: again and again the orchestra boils over in an ecstasy which can scarcely be contained by the sound engineers”. Karajan’s reading was powerfully atmospheric and “often ravishing, with a rich, glowing warmth”, but his handling of his orchestra threw a veil over some of the score’s finer details. The album’s audio quality too had both strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, the changes of acoustic in the scenes set in a grotto and in the castle’s vaults were managed adroitly. On the other, Pelléas was sometimes too loud, Geneviève’s letter reading was too quiet and a few of Mélisande’s words and the cries of the off-stage sailors were barely audible at all. In sum, the album provided “a very characteristic Karajan performance, deeply committed and full of beautiful if contentious things”. Whether it was better or worse than Boulez’s cooler, clearer version depended upon where one believed the truth of Debussy’s opera to lie. James Goodfriend reviewed the album on LP in Stereo Review in March 1980. Frederica von Stade, he wrote, as the “mystery-surrounded Mélisande, is not only innocent and evasive, but, when the time comes, passionate, despondent, welcoming of death, … tragic rather than pathetic”. Richard Stilwell’s Pelléas was eager despite his fear, José van Dam’s Golaud genuine and traumatized, Ruggero Raimondi’s Arkel embracing and aptly Debussyan, Christine Barbaux’s Yniold excellent, Nadine Denize’s Geneviève euphonious and Pascal Thomas’s shepherd and physician entirely satisfactory. The Berlin Philharmonic supplied a “voluptuous sonic cushion” with none of the nasal string sound that a French orchestra would have produced. The salient features of Herbert von Karajan’s interpretation were its “meticulous attention to changing sonorities” and its muscularity as a piece of music drama. An opera usually represented almost as though it were a dream was instead made into a story of “real characters with real emotions”, “a bigger, stronger, more varied music” than anyone had discovered in the score before. EMI’s production team had favoured strings over woodwinds and voices but not culpably so, and had achieved an audio quality commendable for “its clarity, its warmth and beauty of sound and its exceedingly wide dynamic range”. The album, in short, was “splendid”. J. B. Steane reviewed the album on LP in Gramophone in April 1980. Frederica von Stade, he wrote, “so very girl-like, unoperatic in tone, gives an infinitely touching performance”. The recording’s male singers did not give him quite as much pleasure, not because they were guilty of doing anything wrong but because their voices were too alike to allow Debussy to deploy the full range of colours on his palette. The orchestra played with “great beauty” and the production was first rate. But the album’s supreme excellence lay in “the inspiration of Karajan’s intellect and sensitivity, seen here completely at the service of finding out the heart of the music”. From the first bar of the opera to its last, Karajan had achieved an “extraordinary dreamlike concentration” in which the listener was engaged in the emotional life of believable men and women. Never before, Steane thought, had Pelléas et Mélisande moved him so deeply, either on disc or even in the theatre. He had no doubt that the album would endure as “one of the classics of the gramophone”. Hilary Finch reviewed the album on CD in Gramophone in February 1988. “Frederica von Stade’s Mélisande”, she wrote, “is without doubt the central performance: there is the sense of animal instinct, the raw nerve endings, the simplicity … And there is, above all, her sensitivity to the changes of register”. José van Dam’s Golaud managed to elicit compassion despite being altogether the man “fait au fer et au sang” (made of iron and blood). Ruggero Raimondi, a younger-sounding Arkel than some, sang with a praiseworthy legato. The only disappointment among the soloists was Richard Stilwell, whose Pelléas was “less than sensuous, and nowhere near an expressive match for von Stade’s Mélisande”. The orchestra steered a judicious course between the Scylla of too much homogeneity and the Charybdis of too little, with sumptuous string tone and slender, piercing woodwinds. Herbert von Karajan’s interpretation, a “great crescendo of inexorability”, had been accused of unduly emphasizing the Wagnerian element in Debussy’s musical personality against which the composer had struggled. However, it had been Debussy’s ambition to paint a symphony of light and shade, and this was what Karajan’s album provided. Lionel Salter returned to the album to review it on CD in Gramophone in November 1999. As before, he thought that its greatest virtue was its cast. Frederica von Stade was “a quite lovely, pure-voiced Mélisande, childishly innocent in her actions but with a touchingly vulnerable and emotional core”. Richard Stilwell, “young, eager and ardent”, was “a very likeable Pelléas”. José van Dam, impeccably conscientious as always, was a “bluff, bewildered Golaud who cannot understand the delicate creature on whom he had stumbled”. The secondary roles were performed satisfactorily too. But Herbert von Karajan’s interpretation and EMI’s production of it were both as disappointing as they had been two decades earlier. Debussy had insisted that his music should be the servant of Maurice Maeterlinck’s text, and had practised an aesthetic of “Gallic restraint and understatement”. Karajan had brazenly betrayed the composer with “a voluptuously lush orchestral sound that, ravishing as it is, … again and again boils over in a scarcely containable ecstasy”. The engineering of the album was marred by several instances of erratic balancing and a general “kind of patina … which acts like a dark varnish on a painting”. The album remained as controversial and as thought-provoking as it had been when first released.

Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Debussy’s ideal of opera#

Looking back in 1902, Debussy explained the protracted genesis of his only finished opera: “For a long time I had been striving to write music for the theatre, but the form in which I wanted it to be was so unusual that after several attempts I had given up on the idea.” There were many false starts before Pelléas et Mélisande. In the 1880s the young composer had toyed with several opera projects (Diane au Bois, Axël) before accepting a libretto on the theme of El Cid, entitled Rodrigue et Chimène, from the poet and Wagner aficionado Catulle Mendès. At this point, Debussy too was a devotee of Wagner’s music, but—eager to please his father—he was probably more swayed by Mendès’ promise of a performance at the Paris Opéra and the money and reputation this would bring. Mendès’ libretto, with its conventional plot, offered rather less encouragement to his creative abilities. In the words of critic Victor Lederer, “Desperate to sink his teeth into a project of substance, the young composer accepted the type of old-fashioned libretto he dreaded, filled with howlers and lusty choruses of soldiers calling for wine.” Debussy’s letters and conversations with friends reveal his increasing frustration with the Mendès libretto, and the composer’s enthusiasm for the Wagnerian aesthetic was also waning. In a letter of January 1892, he wrote, “My life is hardship and misery thanks to this opera. Everything about it is wrong for me.” And to Paul Dukas, he confessed that Rodrigue was “totally at odds with all that I dream about, demanding a type of music that is alien to me.” Debussy was already formulating a new conception of opera. In a letter to Ernest Guiraud in 1890 he wrote: “The ideal would be two associated dreams. No time, no place. No big scene … Music in opera is far too predominant. Too much singing and the musical settings are too cumbersome … My idea is of a short libretto with mobile scenes. No discussion or arguments between the characters whom I see at the mercy of life or destiny.” It was only when Debussy discovered the new symbolist plays of Maurice Maeterlinck that he found a form of drama that answered his ideal requirements for a libretto.

Petite Suite (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The work, which lasts about 13 minutes in performance, has four movements: The first two movements are inspired by poems from the volume by Paul Verlaine (1844–1896).

Transcriptions#

The Petite Suite was orchestrated by Debussy’s colleague Henri Büsser in 1907, and published by A. Durand & Fils. Büsser’s transcription calls for two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes (second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion (cymbals, tambourine and triangle), harp, and strings.

Piano Trio (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The work is in four movements: A typical performance lasts 20–25 minutes.

Critical response#

In 1984, music critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote of an early, incomplete recording of the trio: “The Debussy piece is juvenilia. You can have a lot of fun putting it on the turntable and asking your learned friends who the composer is. Nothing in the music suggests Debussy. It is sweet, sentimental, and sugared; it verges on the salon.” Reviewer Charlotte Gardner for the BBC wrote in 2012, of a later recording: “Debussy’s teenage Piano Trio doesn’t often get to see the light of day, mostly because it reveals him very much still in feet-finding mode. Still, it’s an enjoyable listen, and it’s interesting to compare its pizzicato second movement with that of the Quartet, and the Brodskys and pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet are evidently having some fun. They’re an effortless partnership, making make much of the work’s smoochy, romantic leanings, the high beauty of many of its passages, and its light, clear textures.”

Pour le piano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Claude Debussy composed the three pieces forming the suite at different times. The second movement, a sarabande, dates to the winter of 1894 when it belonged to the series of Images oubliées, dedicated to Yvonne Lerolle, the daughter of Henry Lerolle. It was premiered on 11 January 1902 at the Salle Érard in Paris for the Société Nationale de Musique. Ricardo Viñes was the pianist, who knew about the suite from his friend Maurice Ravel. Pour le piano marked a turning point in Debussy’s creative development, who now turned to a prolific production of piano music. On the occasion of the centenary of Debussy’s death, Bärenreiter published in 2018 a critical edition of some of his piano music, including Pour le piano. The publisher remarked that the “improvisational and fugitive” parts of Debussy’s compositions were “governed by a precisely calibrated formal design” that left “little room for chance”.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

About his composition, Debussy wrote that: The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature. Paul Valéry recorded the observation that upon being informed of Debussy’s composition, Mallarmé himself was unhappy with his poem being used as the basis for music: He believed that his own music was sufficient, and that even with the best intentions in the world, it was a veritable crime as far as poetry was concerned to juxtapose poetry and music, even if it were the finest music there is. However, his opinion changed after attending the premiere performance at Debussy’s invitation; Mallarmé wrote to him that: I have just come out of the concert, deeply moved. The marvel! Your illustration of the Afternoon of a Faun, which presents no dissonance with my text, but goes much further, really, into nostalgia and into light, with finesse, with sensuality, with richness. I shake your hand admiringly, Debussy. Yours, Mallarmé.

Première rhapsodie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Excerpts#

: ( ees c~) c2.! » \new Staff=“two” \relative c’ \clef treble \key ges \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 ( ees c~) c2.! » » » : > > > \repeat unfold 3 \times 2/3 > > > \repeat unfold 3 \times 2/3 > > > \times 2/3 > > > \slurNeutral \new Staff=“two” \relative c, \clef bass \key ges \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 > » » : > ees,-. \repeat unfold 3 r16 ees-. > ees,-. \new Staff=“two” \relative c \clef bass \key aes \major \time 2/4 > » »

Rêverie (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

Harry Halbreich described Rêverie as very pleasant sounding piece with a somewhat simple but certain melodic charm. The piece carries the number L 76 (68) in the catalogue of works by Debussy by the musicologist François Lesure.

In popular culture#

The song “My Reverie” by Larry Clinton adapts the melody of Debussy’s Rêverie. Isao Tomita includes a synthesized version of Rêverie among other pieces by Debussy in his album Snowflakes are Dancing. In Japan during the late 1970s, this version of Rêverie was used for the opening and closing of Fuji Television’s transmissions. The piece also plays a central part in the first season of Westworld.

Rhapsodie for saxophone and orchestra

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Commissioning a number of composers such as André Caplet and Vincent d’Indy, in 1901 American saxophonist Elise Hall had requested Debussy to compose a piece for the saxophone. During the process of composition, Debussy is noted to have not looked favorably upon the abilities of either Hall nor the saxophone, and did not work on the commission for months. After a number of visits by Hall to Paris, Debussy had given her a score of Pelléas et Mélisande and continued working on Rhapsodie. Debussy had finished the piece’s sketches in 1908, but had resumed and completed the saxophone and piano score in 1911, eventually sending the score off to Hall. After Debussy’s death in 1918, Jean Roger-Ducasse orchestrated the piano accompaniment for a full orchestra in 1919. Rhapsodie eventually premiered on May 14, 1919, at the Salle Gaveau by the Société nationale de musique, conducted by André Caplet. Rather than Elise Hall, who at the time of the premier had become entirely deaf, Pierre Mayeur had played the solo saxophone part during the first performance. Boston Symphony performances on 12-13 February 1932 featured the orchestra’s Louis Speyer playing the solo part on English horn. The 11-12 November 1939 performances by Sigurd Rascher with the New York Philharmonic were of a “revised version by conductor Ernest Ansermet,” where “Ansermet in revising the score has allotted to the saxophone some passages given by Roger-Ducasse to other wind instruments.”

Rodrigue et Chimène

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

Mendès had begun work on his libretto in 1878, hoping to offer it to “one of the leading lights of the French school of opera “. Massenet’s Le Cid (1885, Paris Opera) may have put Mendès off in his search for a composer. It was only in April, 1890 that Mendès handed it to the young Debussy. Mendès had predicted that Debussy would become “one of the great composers of the future” and had helped to promote his music. Although he was unimpressed by the literary quality of the drama he had to set, Debussy was encouraged by the prospect that his work would be performed at the Paris Opéra and earn him some money. Over the next two years, Debussy’s musical style developed in a radically new direction and his enthusiasm for the old-fashioned Rodrigue et Chimène began to flag. In a letter of January, 1892, he admitted, “My life is hardship and misery thanks to this opera. Everything about it is wrong for me.” On 17 May 1893, Debussy attended a performance of Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande and realised that this was exactly the type of drama he had been looking for. When he played excerpts from the score of Rodrigue et Chimène to Paul Dukas in August of the same year, he confessed that Mendès’ libretto was “totally at odds with all that I dream about, demanding a type of music that is alien to me”. Debussy abandoned any idea of bringing Rodrigue et Chimène to the stage and later claimed he had accidentally burned it.

Six sonatas for various instruments

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

From 1914, the composer, encouraged by the music publisher Jacques Durand, intended to write a set of six sonatas for various instruments, in homage to the French composers of the 18th century. The effects of the First World War and an interest in baroque composers Couperin and Rameau inspired Debussy as he was writing the sonatas. Durand, in his memoirs entitled Quelques souvenirs d’un éditeur de musique, wrote the following about the sonatas’ origin: After his famous String Quartet, Debussy had not written any more chamber music. Then, at the Concerts Durand, he heard again the Septet with trumpet by Saint-Saëns and his sympathy for this means of musical expression was reawoken. He admitted the fact to me and I warmly encouraged him to follow his inclination. And that is how the idea of the six sonatas for various instruments came about. In a letter to the conductor Bernard Molinari, Debussy explained that the set should include “different combinations, with the last sonata combining the previously used instruments”. His death on 25 March 1918 prevented him from carrying out his plan, and only three of the six sonatas were completed and published by Durand, with a dedication to his second wife, Emma Bardac.

String Quartet (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In 1892, Debussy had just abandoned the opera Rodrigue et Chimène. He planned to write two string quartets, only one of which he completed. The quartet was meant to be dedicated to composer Ernest Chausson, but Chausson’s personal reservations diverted this intention. The quartet received its premiere on December 29, 1893, by the Ysaÿe Quartet at the Société Nationale in Paris, France, to mixed reactions.

Analysis#

The work consists of four movements: Its sensuality and impressionistic tonal shifts are emblematic of its time and place and its cyclic structure constitutes a divorce from the rules of classical harmony into a new style. After its premiere, composer Guy Ropartz described the quartet as “dominated by the influence of young Russia; there are poetic themes, rare sonorities, the first two movements being particularly remarkable.” Debussy said that “Any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity.” Maurice Ravel, another impressionist composer, wrote a string quartet that is modeled on Debussy’s.

Suite bergamasque

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Debussy was initially unwilling to use these relatively early piano compositions because they were not in his mature style, but in 1905 he accepted the offer of a publisher who thought they would be successful, given the fame Debussy had gained in the intervening fifteen years. While it is not known how much of the Suite was written in 1890 and how much was written in 1905, it is clear that Debussy changed the names of at least two of the pieces. Passepied had first been composed under the title Pavane, while Clair de lune was originally entitled Promenade sentimentale. These names come from poems by Paul Verlaine. The title of the third movement of Suite bergamasque is taken from Verlaine’s poem “Clair de lune”, which refers to bergamasks in the opening stanza:

Syrinx (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The piece is commonly performed off stage, as it is thought when Debussy dedicated the piece to the flutist Louis Fleury, it was for him to play during the interval of one of Debussy’s ballets. Syrinx was written as part of incidental music to the play Psyché by Gabriel Mourey, and was originally called “Flûte de Pan”. It was given its final name in reference to the myth of the amorous pursuit of the nymph Syrinx by the god Pan, in which Pan falls in love with Syrinx. Syrinx, however, does not return the love to Pan; she turns herself into a water reed and hides in the marshes. Pan cuts the reeds to make his pipes, in turn killing his love.

The Little Nigar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Debussy composed The Little Nigar (giving the noun this spelling) in 1909 on a commission from Théodore Lack, for his piano method Méthode de Piano. The subtitle describes it as a cakewalk. It is reminiscent of Golliwogg’s Cakewalk from his Children’s Corner, a piano suite that he had composed a year earlier. Debussy regularly sought exotic influences. In The Little Nigar, he alluded to banjo chords and drums, influenced by American minstrel shows. The piece, marked allegro, begins with a first theme presenting “jazzy” syncopes in time, in the then popular ragtime style. It is followed by a lyrical passage, marked espressivo and pianissimo (very softly), which leads to a return of the first section. The first theme leans towards pentatonic and is accompanied by a chromatic sequence of broken minor thirds. The Little Nigar was first published in 1909 by Éditions Alphonse Leduc in Paris as part of Lack’s piano method and again as a single piece in about 1934, now with an added repetition and entitled The Little Negro, with subtitle Le petit nègre. Debussy also used the piece’s main theme in his 1913 ballet for children, La boîte à joujoux, in which it characterises an English soldier. Numerous transcriptions have been made of the piece, including an arrangement for woodwinds that has been used for advertising Purina One dog food.

Trois Chansons (Debussy)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Using the poetry of medieval poet Charles, Duke of Orléans, the first and third songs were revised from an earlier version composed in 1898 for a choir belonging to his friend Lucien Fontaine. He finished the second song in 1908 and the completed Trois Chansons was published by Auguste Durand the same year. The first performance was in March 1909 with eight singers from the Engel-Bathori choir. The following month, he conducted the piece at Concerts Colonne along with his composition La Damoiselle élue. Dying nine years after the premiere of Trois Chansons, it is his only composition for unaccompanied choir.

Two Arabesques

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The arabesques#

The two arabesques are given these tempo marks: # Andantino con moto # Allegretto scherzando

1. Andantino con moto#

This arabesque is in the key of E major. The piece begins with parallelism of triads in first inversion, a composition technique very much used by Debussy and other Impressionists which traces back to the tradition of fauxbourdon. It leads into a larger section which begins with a left hand arpeggio in E major and a descending right hand E major pentatonic progression. The second quieter B section is in A major, starting with a gesture (E–D–E–C), briefly passing through E major, returning to A major and ending with a bold pronouncement of the E–D–E–C gesture, but transposed to the key of C major and played forte. In the middle of the recapitulation of the A section, the music moves to a higher register and descends, followed by a large pentatonic scale ascending and descending, and resolving back to E major.