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Claude
Debussy
Janel Herde
Biography
Biography
 Born
August 22, 1862 in St. Germain en
Laye, France.
 Oldest of 5 children.
 Family owned china shop.

Closed and the family relocated to Clichy,
France.
 Claude’s
grandmother takes them in.
 First

piano lesson – 7 years old.
Teacher – Jean Cerutti (Jean)
 1871
Antionette Maute as piano teacher.
 Paris Conservatory School of Fine Arts –
Age 10
 1876 – First appearance at a public
concert.

Accompanied Leontine Mendes (Singer)
 1879
– Leans the attractions of a life of
luxury – stays with Marguerite WilsonPelouze.

Decides to become a composer.
 1880

Teaches her children to play piano
 1884

– Hired by Nadezhda Von Meck
– Enters “The Prodigal Son”
Won the Prix de Rome
Influences
 Not
influenced by Russian composer
 Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und
Isolde.
 Javanese Gamelan


First saw at Paris World Exposition 1889
Brass percussion, strings, bamboo flutes
 Opera


– Pelleas et Melisande
Based on play by Marice Maeterlinck
Only finished opera
 Controversy

around first performance
Music was either hated or loved
 His
music was impressionist
 Rejected traditional rules
 Pieces were dissonant
 Lacked tonal quality
Later Years





Changes in style
Not readily accepted
Other composers weakened popularity
Composed music until death
Diagnosed – rectal cancer 1915
 Unsuccessful


surgery to cure cancer
Passed away March 25, 1918
3 unfinished pieces for “Six Pieces for
Various Instruments”
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un
faune (Prelude to the
Afternoon of a Faun)
History
 Written
in 1892, completed in October
1894
 Symphonic poem for orchestra
 First performance



Paris – December 1894
Concerts of the Society Nationale de
Musique
Conductor – Gustave Doret
 Inspired
by poem “L”après-midi d’un
faune” by Stephane Mallarme


Also basis for ballet “Afternoon of a Faun”
Choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky
 One
of best known compositions
 Performed again the next day

Society’s doors were opened to the public
for the first time.
 First
performance – conductor and
Debussy made changes up until the start
 Orchestration









3 flutes
2 oboes
2 clarinets
4 horns
2 harps
2 violins
Violas
Chellos
Contrabasses
 One
of Debussy’s most famous works
 Turning point in music
 Flutes and soft must added new depth
Listening Guide

Section A





0:00 Part A – flute solo, harps glissando, horns
extend theme
0:45 Part A – horns and harp repeat. Horns
background, harp is more prominent
1:06 Part A – Flute reappears, oboes take
melody at times
1:31 Part B – Horns return, flute and oboe resume
these, crescendos, theme repeated. Harps
glissando
2:46 Part C – Flutes continue theme, clarinet
extends the theme, flutes at the end of theme

Section B





3:16 Part D – Oboe leads new theme. Strings –
plucking methods – which accompany clarinet.
Violins take over the melody
3:44 Part D – French horns return. Clarinet plays
melody. Similar to first theme
4:01 Part E – oboe returns with melody. Quicker
and shorter notes. Strings added – screscendo
take melody
4:19 Part E – Dynamics soften – violins play
togther. Chang tempo and rhythm. Crescendo
with climax and diminishes
4:48 Part E – Soften with horns flutes and oboes.
Crescendos and decrescendos. Twinkling
sound.
 Section



B
5;50 Part A Flute has main melody,
accompaniment of harp. Obo plast
staccato notes
6:23 Part A Horns accmpany with crisp
melody. Theme reiterates Theme A
6:55 Part A Flutes play melody, violini
pianissimo. Flute, cello take melody. Harp in
backgorund. Oboe Brings melody. Flute
and harp fade to a close.
Clair de Lune
History
 Third
movement in Suite begamasque
 Famous piano suite, with four movements

Prelude, Menuet, Clair de Lune, Passepied
 Composed
in 1890
 When it came time to publish, Debussy
hated the style.
 Major modification
 Revised version published in 1905
Inspiration
 Poem
“Clair de Lune” by Paul Verlaine
 All four movements written from works of
Paul Verlaine.
 Written for piano solo
 First performance

Debussy performed it himself firs time ever
performed.
Listening Guide
 Section



A
0:00 Opens in D flat. Pianissimo. Warm
sound. Chords and scales – both hands.
Expressive, andante
1:00 Dissonant low notes. More chords than
scales. Repeated with minor changes.
1:39 Dissonance resolved with arpeggio.
 Section



B
1:49 More movement. Arpeggios.
Pianissimo. Crescendos and decrescendos
throughout piece. Melody – right hand.
2:25 Key changes, melody move up an
octave.
2:35 Melody back down in lower octaves
 Section



A’
3:04 Melody from beginning restated
3:38 Coda, arpeggios from second section.
Contour same as theme A
4:19 Arpeggios brought together. End slowly
with diminuendo.
Bibliography






Claude Debussy. 2007. June 2011
<http://www.debussy.fr/cdfr/bio/bio5_03-09.php>.
Dumesnil, Maurice. "Claude-Achille, Young Musician."
Claude Debussy, Master of Dreams. Westport: Greenwood
Press, 1979. 181.
Mandel, Marc. Claude Debussy “Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un
faune”. n.d. June 2011
<http://www.bso.org/images/program_notes/debussy_prelu
de_faun.pdf>.
Nichols, Roger. "The Life of Debussy." New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998.
Notable Biographies. n.d. June 2011
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/DebussyClaude.html>.
Vallas, Leon. "Claude Debussy - His Life and Works." Lightning
Source Inc., 2007.