Claude Debussy is most well known for his works written for piano solo. But he wrote around 55 songs for voice and piano throughout his career as well. His first published work was in fact a song, Nuit d'étoiles (Starry Night), written to the text of a poem by Théodore de Banville, a French poet and writer of the 19th century.
Debussy wrote the song in 1880 when he was 18 years old. The song is a very good representation of Debussy's early works as well as how nature and literature inspired the young composer. The original poem has 4 stanzas, but Debussy chose to omit the third one. The piano accompaniment imitates the lyre mentioned in the first stanza while the voice tells the story of lost love.
Théodore de Banville
Starry Night Théodore de Banville
Starry night, under your veils,
under your night air and scents,
With a sad sighing lyre,
I dream of dead loves.
The serene melancholy bursts from
deep in my heart,
And I hear the soul of my love
Tremble in the deep woods.
I remember the fountain,
your blue eyes like the sky,
your breath like roses,
and your eyes like the stars.
In 1909 the Director of the Paris Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré appointed Debussy to the Board Of Directors. This position obligated Debussy to compose test pieces for Conservatoire students and be an adjudicator in examinations. His first duties in this post were to write two pieces for the clarinet department examinations, as well as be on the panel of judges.
Debussy wrote the shorter Petit Pièce and the longer Première Rhapsodie in 1910, both for clarinet with piano accompaniment. Evidently Debussy was not looking forward to listening to a class of clarinetists playing the two pieces over and over again, but as it turned out Debussy was delighted with the experience and how well his pieces sounded as he wrote in a letter to his publisher:
“The clarinet competitions went extremely well, and, to judge by the expressions on the faces of my colleagues, the Rhapsodie was a success.”
Prospère Mimart
The success of the piece suggested that it was more than a student examination piece, so Debussy made an orchestrated version in 1911. It was dedicated to the professor of clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire Prospère Mimart, who also premiered the orchestral version in 1911. It has remained one of the most played pieces for clarinet solo in the repertoire ever since, and is still heard in clarinet examinations in the piano accompanied version.
The piece is in free form, true to the name of rhapsody, and offers many technical challenges for the soloist in breath, endurance, and range. It is a piece for a advanced student or a professional clarinetist. Debussy fulfilled the requirements of an examination piece as the work covers all aspects of a virtuoso technique and musicality, while also writing a musical piece that the music lover who knows nothing about clarinet technique can enjoy.
As with the first book of preludes, Claude Debussy wrote the second book of twelve in a few months between 1912 and 1913. They are similar in mood to those of the first book, but the music itself is more complex harmonically and there is a greater emphasis on technique. During Debussy's lifetime, Book I sold more copies than Book II, possibly because the nature of the music was that much more unique. Debussy followed the procedure of Book I by placing his descriptive titles of the pieces at the end of the preludes of Book II.
The second book of preludes was Debussy's penultimate foray into music for solo piano. After the set of 12 Etudes written in 1915, Debussy composed no more major works for piano solo.
1) Brouillards (Mists) -Debussy utilizes bi-tonality to depict layers of mist as the left hands plays on the white keys while the right hand plays on the black keys. This is a sort of visual representation (for the performer at any rate) of mixing while with black to create Debussy's gray colored mist. The music begins in 4/8 time and shifts meter to 3/8, 3/4 and back to 4/8 periodically throughout the piece, adding to the drifting and changing direction and speed of the mist.
2) Feuilles mortes (Dead leaves) - Supposedly written after an autumnal walk taken by Debussy, this prelude is not morbid in any sense of something dead. It is more like the shifting colors of leaves that have taken on the colors of autumn. It is a subtle depiction of colors through changing tonalities. 3) La puerta del Vino (Wine Gate): Mouvement de Habanera -Carrying on the love of Spanish music by French composers, Debussy composed a companion piece to La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted serenade) of Book I. The wine gate in question is one located in the Moorish Palace Of The Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The rhythm of the habanera dance runs throughout in the bass.
Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens
4) Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses (Fairies are exquisite dancers) - Arthur Rackham's illustrations to Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens was the inspiration for this prelude, in particular a depiction of fairies tight-rope walking on a spider's web. The music begins with fast music that may refer to the fairies flying, with the spider web walking coming a little later. 5) Bruyères (Heather) -A representation of the simple flower of heather. Its pastoral mood and folk song simplicity is similar to La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) of Book I. 6) Général Lavine – eccentric: Dans le style et le mouvement d'un Cakewalk -An example of Debussy's liking of contemporary popular performers. Ed Lavine was an American juggler performer that was billed as General Lavine, The Man That Has Soldiered All His Life. Among his reported tricks was to play the piano with his toes! Debussy saw the General perform in Paris in 1912 and enjoyed his performance so much he immortalized him in this prelude. Debussy wrote other pieces in American ragtime style, with one of them being Minstrels of Book I.
7) La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (The terrace of moonlit audiences) - There is little in the way of description or source of inspiration concerning this piece. It is pure Debussy. Whatever he meant by the title doesn't matter much. It is music of Debussyian sensuality, power and beauty. 8) Ondine : Scherzando -Ondines are mythological Scandinavian water nymphs that sang and danced on the water's surface that could also lure fisherman away from their labors. Debussy shows them playing on the rippling water as well as outbursts that depict their mischievous intent to divert fisherman. 9) Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. (Homage to S. Pickwick) - Debussy made a few trips to England where his music was well received, and he was an avowed Anglophile. This music is a tribute to the English author Charles Dickens, a favorite of Debussy's. Debussy doesn't let his love of everything English prevent him from parody as he begins the prelude with a rude rendition of God Save The King. Various other styles emerge, along with a jig tune towards the end.
Canopic jars
10) Canope (Canopic jar) -Canopic jars were used by ancient Egyptians to hold the vital organs of the deceased while the body and heart were mummified. The lungs, liver, intestines and stomach were each kept in separate jars for safekeeping and use in the afterlife. The lids of these clay jars were made in the forms of Egyptian gods, and Debussy had some of these lids on his mantle in his house. 11) Les tierces alternées (Alternating thirds) -This is in the style of his set of Etudes that were to be written in 1915. The title says it all, as it is comprised of alternating thirds throughout. The musical effect comes from changes in dynamics as the musical elements are rather straightforward.
12) Feux d'artifice (Fireworks) -The final prelude of the entire set of 24 is a grand finale and continuation of all that has gone before. With rapid scales, repeated notes, large chords and glissandos, Debussy depicts skyrockets and other fireworks that are set off on the French Independence Day, July 14th - Bastille Day. The final shooting of massive skyrockets is depicted by a double glissando - the left hand down the white notes, the right hand down the black notes. After the last sparks die away, the Marseillaise rumbles quietly in the background.
Most classical music lovers who have ever heard the name Nadezhda von Meck know it from her relationship with Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Russian composer. She gave Tchaikovsky financial support so he could devote himself to composition. with an agreement that stipulated they never meet. This resulted in a remarkable exchange of letters (over 1,200 in thirteen years) in a long distant friendship that Tchaikovsky came to rely on for her intelligence and musically knowledgeable advice.
Nadezhda von Meck
Nadezhda von Meck was the widow of Karl von Meck, a German engineer who garnered a fortune by founding a network of railroads in Russia. When he died, eleven of their thirteen children were still at home, and Madam von Meck became devoted to them in the extreme. She maintained a huge household that included personal instruction for the children as well as a retinue of servants, governesses and house maintenance personnel. She would take the household to Italy every summer, and the Paris Conservatoire of Music would send young students there for the summer to instruct and play music with her and her children. During the summer of 1880, an eighteen year old Claude Debussy was among the small group of students sent to Villa Oppenheim in Florence (now a hotel known as Villa Cora).
Debussy and other students would perform for the family every evening, and it was then thatDebussy's trio may ave been played. A letter from von Meck to Tchaikovsky mentions that Debussy was writing the trio, but there is no positive evidence that it was ever performed then. In fact, the trio may not have ever been performed in Debussy's lifetime. The work was not published until 1986 after the manuscript (which was considered lost) was found in 1982. Considerable editorial work was needed to piece it back together from various sources. The trio is in 4 movements;
Andantino con moto allegro -Debussy was still a student when he composed the trio and had very little training in composition, so while this movement can be thought of as in sonata form, it is a very loose and personal style of sonata form. It consists of attractive themes that are in the light weight salon style of the time. The beginning themes return towards the end in a kind of recapitulation, and the movement ends quietly.
Scherzo: Moderato con allegro - This movement shows more of what Debussy's style would become when he was a mature composer. The charm of the music is undeniable. The scherzo begins with a short introduction of pizzicato strings that alternate with the piano. The B minor theme itself begins with block chords in the piano. The graceful middle section is marked un poco piu lento and is in B major. The scherzo repeats and the movement ends quietly. Andante espressivo - The piano sets the stage for the graceful theme that is first played by the cello and then by the violin. A slightly more turbulent middle section that includes some modulations into distant keys leads back to a repeat of the initial theme. Finale: Appassionato -The final movement shows Debussy's inexperience in form (as does the entire trio) but the tunes are memorable throughout. His use of modulation may be a reflection of his knowledge of the music of Cesar Franck, a composer that showed considerable influence on young French composers at the time. Debussy was to go on to develop his own unique style of composition, but this piano trio is a pleasant listening experience despite his inexperience at the time.
Claude Debussy has been identified with Impressionism, exemplified by the paintings of Renoir and Monet among others. Debussy himself disliked the term and rejected any association with it. As he said himself:
I am trying to do 'something different'...what the imbeciles call 'impressionism', a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by the critics.
Some have suggested he was a proponent of Symbolism more than Impressionism, but 'isms' are but created labels that attempt to categorize. Not that these labels aren't useful. They certainly can give a sense of structure for study and understanding. But labels are models to aid in understanding. As soon as a model is used as a definite mold to force art to conform to specific rules, the model loses its value.
Debussy's talent was such that he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire when he was ten years old. During his 11 years there he constantly challenged his teachers and the directorship of Ambroise Thomas, a musical conservative. He earned the praise and admiration of his teachers and fellow students for his abilities as a pianist and sight-reader, but his compositions were not understood. He understood the models of music that were taught in his classes, but he refused to allow his creativity to be controlled by them.
That is not to say that he was not influenced by other composers. Richard Wagner was a profound influence, as well as Mussorgsky. Older music also had an influence, such as the Baroque clavicenists such as Couperin as well as J.S. Bach. Each one of these influences were digested and internalized by Debussy's talent and transformed into his own highly original music. American Ragtime, the Gamelan from Java all played a part as well as literature and the visual arts.
Debussy was a slow and meticulous composer, but uncharacteristically the Preludes Book One was begun in late 1909 and finished three months later. He kept with the traditional number of preludes of 24 (in two books of 12) as set by many composers before him, especially J.S. Bach and Chopin. But where Bach had his preludes (and the fugues that went with them) follow each other in a half-step progression of keys and Chopin followed the circle of fifths, Debussy's preludes follow no set key sequence, although groups of them seem to be tonally related. Debussy doesn't use conventional keys hardly at all as he uses church modes, pentatonic scales and the whole tone scale in writing them.
Another unique feature of Debussy's preludes is that while each one is titled, the title appears at the end of the piece instead of the beginning.
1) Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi) -Debussy begins with music inspired by ancient Greek dancers in music that gently moves through different types of scales and melodies. This first prelude gives a clue to what will proceed, and renders what Debussy himself said is his musical objective:
Wagner pronounced himself in favor of the laws of harmony. I am for freedom. But freedom must essentially be free. All the noises we hear around ourselves can be re-created. Every sound perceived by the acute ear in the rhythm of the world about us can be represented musically. Some people wish to conform to the rules; for myself, I wish only to render what I can hear.
2) Voiles (Veils or Sails) -The title of this prelude is ambiguous, quite appropriate for the music. Either the sails of ships billowing in a breeze, or the sensuous form of a woman only partially hidden by diaphanous veils. The whole tone scale is used throughout with the chromatic scale added for variety. 3) Le vent dans la plaine (The wind in the plain) - A depiction of strong as well as gentle breezes. There is no documentation as to whether Debussy intended the preludes to be played as an entire set. Shortly after their composition, Debussy himself as well as other pianists played them in groups of three. The first three preludes sound well together played this way. 4) Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air) -The title is inspired by a poem by Charles Beaudelaire titled Harmonie Soir (Evening Harmony). This preludes ends with a short coda that is marked by the composer 'as a far away horn call'. 5) Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri) - Anacapri is a small village on the Isle of Capri in the Gulf of Naples off the Italian coast. Debussy begins the prelude slowly until it erupts in an Italian dance, the tarantella. The dance is interrupted by a folk song like melody in the middle section. The dance returns and leads to a glittering ending in the extreme treble of the keyboard which is marked lumineux (luminous). 6) Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the snow) - A bleak landscape of snow and cold is represented as a persistent motive is repeated. Debussy gives the direction that 'the tempo must be such that it sounds like a sad, icy landscape'. There is little relief from the cold atmosphere in this prelude that is a challenge for the pianist to bring off with Debussy's intended effect. 7) Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the west wind has seen) -The subtle colors of the preceeding preludes are swept away by this depiction of a violent wind that roars off the coast of France during a storm at sea. 8) La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) -One of the most often played preludes, this gentle music is in stark contrast to the preceding violent one. Gentle chords surround Debussy's original melody that sounds like a folk song. 9) La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted serenade) -Debussy continues the French love of Spanish music in this prelude that depicts a Spanish guitarist that tries to serenade his sweetheart. Is the father the one that slams the window to shut out the serenade, or the beloved? No matter, the serenader finally gives up and wanders off. 10) La Cathédrale engloutie (The engulfed cathedral) -Another of the most popular preludes, this is a representation of the legend of the cathedral of the ancient city of Ys in Brittany that sank to the bottom of the ocean when the city was swallowed by the sea. Once every hundred years the cathedral rises out of the ocean to the tolling of its bells and the chanting of monks. It then sinks back into the sea. With thunderous chords in the middle section, Debussy has the piano do a credible impression of pipe organ sonority. Widely-spaced chords (including six-note chords to be played by the five fingers of the right hand) add to the mysterious nature of the legend before the cathedral slips back under the water. 11) La danse de Puck (Puck's dance) -A representation of the mischievous Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. 12) Minstrels -Traveling minstrel shows appeared in Europe around the turn of the 20th century and were very popular. European composers were influenced by ragtime and early jazz music. Debussy's creative imagination attracted him to different kinds of music and art, and led to this witty representation of the banjo and minstrel music.
The year of 1893 saw the composition or premiere of many classical music pieces that were to become standards of the repertoire; Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony 'Pathetique', Verdi's final opera Falstaff, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World", and Brahms' Six Pieces For Piano Opus 118, and in Paris an original and forward-looking composition - Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 10.
Musical influences on the young Debussy were many; Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and he fell under the spell of Wagner for a short time. But Debussy was an original from the start. He took when he had learned from the masters and expanded upon it, forming his own musical aesthetic in the process. During his student years at the Paris Conservatoire he had the reputation of being a rebel. He would begin a Bach prelude by first extemporizing in strange chords and harmonies before launching into a highly romanticized performance. Debussy expressed his musical aesthetic as a student in these words:
I am sure the Institute would not approve, for, naturally it regards the path which it ordains as the only right one. But there is no help for it! I am too enamoured of my freedom, too fond of my own ideas!
The string quartet of 1893 was the only composition Debussy gave an opus number to, thus Debussy's reason for using it isn't known. It is also the only work that has a key designation. It is a harbinger of things to come for subsequent works. Debussy pours very different music into the old wine skin of the string quartet. The quartet is in 4 movements: I. Animé e très décidé (Decidedly very animated) -Debussy gives a passing nod to sonata form in the first movement. He begins with the first theme right off. This theme is also the basis of the entire quartet as it appears throughout the movements of the quartet in various guises and strange harmonies, thus Debussy also pays homage to Franck and Liszt in using cyclical form. The theme is in the Phrygian mode, a mode related to the minor scale. The second theme is more lyrical and retains some of the qualities of the initial theme. Instead of a more traditional development section, Debussy writes subtle variations on the second theme. They appear in different harmonies and scales. The recapitulation weaves the two themes in and out with shifting harmonic feeling until the movement ends.
II. Assez vif et bien rythmé (Quite lively and well paced) -The movement begins with pizzicato chords in the first violin and cello. The viola plays a figure that repeats while the first violin plays a variant of the main theme of the first movement pizzicato. Debussy marks this section over the first violin part un peu en dehors, somewhat prominent. The music repeats with the roles of the instruments changing. The trio section of this scherzo is but slightly more subdued. The scherzo begins again, new material is introduced that maintains the spikiness of the music. The movement began with one sharp in the key signature, ostensibly G major, but the music is such a kaleidoscope of changing tonal colors that the listener can't be sure of where Debussy is at harmonically. The movement goes its merry way until it ends pianississimo (ppp). Debussy has written a movement that is outwardly consistent with the tradition of string quartets, that is, a scherzo. But the form he uses and the sounds he produces are hardly traditional.
III. Andantino, doucement expressif (Andantino, very expressive) -Written in the key of D-flat, Debussy varies the main theme of the first movement drastically in sensual music that adds to the imaginative sound palette of the first two movements. The music reaches a climax, and winds down with a repeat of the theme in the last bars that are stunning in their simplicity and serene calmness.
IV. Très modéré (Very moderately) - The finale begins with a section that repeats music heard in the previous three movements, a practice used by composers to create unity within the movements of a work. After this section, the music goes off on its own variations of the main theme. The pace of the music quickens, and the final chords are played.
To our modern ears Debussy's quartet cannot create the same effect that it did to the audiences of 1893, but the premiere of the work met with mixed reactions from listeners and critics. It went on to become a standard piece of the chamber music repertoire, along with having a great influence on many composers. Debussy began a second quartet, but soon turned his attention to orchestral writing. He wrote very few chamber music works, and only came back to the genre in the years shortly before his death in 1918.
Debussy summed up his thoughts on music later inhis career with these words:
There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. I love music passionately. And because l love it, I try to free it from barren traditions that stifle it. It is a free art gushing forth — an open-air art, boundless as the elements, the wind, the sky, the sea. It must never be shut in and become an academic art.
He demonstrated with the writing of his string quartet that he knew the musical traditions of the time very well. He was a true rebel, for he knew exactly what he was rebelling against. He knew the rules, and he chose to break them and go his own way, even in a work that at least on the surface, resembled the traditional form of the string quartet.
