Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Universitatea Babes-Bolyai

Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye just northwest of Paris on 22 August 1862, Claude Debussy composed largely chamber and orchestral works, as well as a great number of songs and pieces for piano. His 227 works are listed to 150 in the Lesure directory of 2001 [Wikipedia]. He remains among the most influential of classical composers, dissonant chords and harmonies among his trademarks. The "good God of music" had been JS Bach for Debussy, though his reputation joins that of Ravel as a so-called father of impressionist music who made no such connection himself and said so, his alignment w Impressionism made by critics of the time in recognition of similarities.

Early immersed in the climate of Wagner who was a naturalistic realist, Debussy was less an impressionist than symbolist, which manner of interpreting the world was viewed the more progressive alternative to the realism and naturalism which, as 19th century reactions to romanticism, pointed toward impressionism. Among realists were such as author, Henry James, and painter, Gustave Corbet. Among naturalists were Emile Zola and Jules Bastien-Lepage. Naturalism across the pond in the United States found expression in the realist philosophy of Frederick Woodbridge, born only five years after Debussy. Realism was also the adopted style of socialist movements and the Soviet Union.

Symbolism is widely found throughout literature throughout literary time, one famous example being Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven'. Symbolist painters older but sharing lifespan with Debussy include Gustave Moreau, Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin. Symbolist poets whom Debussy set to music include Paul Verlaine, Maurice Maeterlinck and Charles Baudelaire.

Debussy had been born to a father who owned a china shop and a mother who was a seamstress. At age five his parents moved to Paris where he began to study piano at age seven. In 1872 he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study piano and composition for the next eleven years. His first public appearance was in 1876, accompanying singer, Léontine Mendès.

Debussy was about fifteen when he determined to become a composer, his earliest compositions per the "L" directory arriving in 1879. L numbers in Debussy are per François Lesure and can be confusing since there are two editions which differ but aren't always distinguished. L numbers of 1977 are differentiated from L numbers of 2001 as L1 and L2. L2 can also be given a "CD" designation to more distinctly distinguish from L1. "CD" will be used for L2 throughout this article. For example, see IMSLP or Wikipedia: 'Ballade à la lune: C'était dans la nuit brune' of 1879, for instance, is L 1 per the 1977 edition (L1), but isn't listed at all in the 2001 version (L2). The catalogue of L numbers at Classic Cat are actually the new Lesure numbers (L2 or CD) of 2001. As for 'Ballade à la lune', that was set to a poem by Alfred de Musset, as was 'Madrid' of 1879 (in the old L1 as #2 and the newer L2 [CD] as #1):

'Madrid'   L 2   CD 1   Claude Debussy   1879

Text by Alfred de Musset

Soprano: Véronique Dietschy   Piano: Emmanuel Strosser

An early instrumental of 1879 or 1880 was 'Piano Trio' in G major for piano, cello and violin:

'Piano Trio' in G major   L 3   CD 5   Claude Debussy   1879/80

Piano: Satomi Hayakawa   Violin: Chihiro Inda   Violoncello: Yasutaka Takeuchi

Debussy's 'Starry Night' of 1880 was set to a text by Théodore de Banville. Debussy would set numerous poems by Banville to music:

'Nuit d'étoiles' ('Starry Night')   L 4   CD 2   Claude Debussy   1880

Text by Théodore de Banville

Tenor: Hugues Cuenod   Piano: Martin Isepp

Another important librettist should be mentioned in the person of Paul Bourget. Among several texts by Bourget which Debussy set to music was 'Beau Soir' ('Beautiful Evening') circa 1880. 'Beau Soir' is the last of collaboration between Bourget and Debussy in the Lesure directory. Originally written in E major to F sharp minor, Debussy revised the work in 1890 for publication the next year. Another early instrumental of 1880 was 'Danse Bohémienne' for piano.

'Beau Soir'   ('Beautiful Night')   L 6   CD 84   Claude Debussy   c 1880   Revised 1990-91

Text by Paul Bourget   Soprano: Veronique Dietschy

'Danse Bohémienne'   L 9   CD 4   Claude Debussy   1880

Piano: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Debussy spent July to November of 1880 w Tchaikovsky's Russian patroness, Nadezhda von Meck, as she traveled about Europe on summer holiday. Debussy and Tchaikovsky never met, but the latter had some tough criticism for 'Danse Bohémienne' upon Meck showing him Debussy's score. Though Meck put the notion of Debussy marrying one of her daughters to rest, toward the end of the year Debussy met the amateur soprano and wife of Henri Vasnier, Marie, and fell into young albeit hopeless love. While under Madame Vesnier's spell, Debussy wrote numerous melodies for her to sing, such as his setting to Banville's 'Aimons-nous et dormons' ('Let Us Love and Sleep'):

'Aimons-nous et dormons' ('Let Us Sleep and Love')   L 16   CD 7   Claude Debussy   1880/81

Text by Théodore de Banville

Soprano: Serena Eduljee   Piano: Eric Anderson

Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University

Debussy had received his first student as a tutor in 1881 before another season with Meck between July and December of 1881, this time beginning in Moscow, then on to Rome prior to Florence. A third season w Meck began in Plechtchevo in September of 1882 before Debussy accompanied her to Vienna from October to December. In 1884 Debussy won the Prix de Rome for his cantata, 'L'enfant prodigue' ('The Prodigal Son') with text by Édouard Guinand. Numerous musicians in the VF History had won the Paris Conservatoire's Prix de Rome. Founded in 1663 to encourage students of painting, it was later expanded to include architecture, engraving, sculpture and music. The Prix de Rome was Europe's most prized scholarship program, awarding three to five years of study in Italy with accommodations.

'L'enfant prodigue'   ('The Prodigal Son')   L 57   CD 61   Claude Debussy   1884

Cantata also titled or called a scene lyrique

Premiere in Paris 27 June 1884   Text by Édouard Guinand

Soprano: Jessye Norman   Tenor: José Carreras   Baritone: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Stuttgart Radio Symphony directed by Gary Bertini   1981

The last couple years of Debussy's Prix de Rome found him at Villa Medici before returning to Paris in 1887. The French Academy in Rome grants residencies to this very day. It was 1890 when Debussy dabbed the drifting subtlety of lightly sprinkling notes along the gentle waves of 'Reverie' for piano (L 68  CD 76). Also written in 1890 was one of Debussy's more famous works, 'Suite Bergamasque', revised for publication in 1905. The 3rd of four movements in that is Debussy's popular 'Clare de Lune' ('Moonlight'), a setting to the 1869 poem by Paul Verlaine. Debussy put numerous texts by Verlaine to music in the early eighties, nineties and 20th century.

'Suite Bergamasque'   L 75   CD 82   Claude Debussy   1890   Revised for publication in 1905

Piano: Claudio Arrau

'Clare de Lune'   Movement 3 of 'Suite Bergamasque'   L 75   CD 82   Claude Debussy

1890   Revised for publication in 1905

Piano: Moura Lympany

The only Opus number Debussy gave to a work was Op 10 assigned to 'String Quartet' in G minor composed in 1893, that also his only string quartet.

'String Quartet'   Op 10   L 85   CD 91   Claude Debussy   1893

Violin: Simone Roggen   Violin: Annina Wöhrle

Viola: Ada Meinich   Cello: Birgit Böhme

Sydney, Australia   23 Sep 2014

'Nocturnes' for orchestra   L 91   CD 98   Claude Debussy   1897-99

1: 'Nuages' ('Clouds')

2: 'Fêtes' ('Holidays')

3: 'Sirènes' ('Sirens')

Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit

In October of 1899 Debussy married fashion model, Rosalie Texier (aka Lilly), who was only twenty years younger than the first time garments saw modeling in 1853, that by the wife of the father of haute couture, Charles Frederick Worth, who approached garment design as an artist rather than a tailor.

Of the multiple operas that Debussy started, he finished only 'Pelleas et Melisande', begun back in 1893 upon the premiere that year of the eponymous symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Debussy's opera premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on 30 April 1902.

'Pelleas et Melisande'   L 88   CD 93   Opera by Claude Debussy   1893-1902

Premiere 30 April 1902 at the Opera Comique in Paris

Libretto: Maurice Maeterlinck   1893

Choir: Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor

Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado

'Estampes'   L 100   CD 108   Claude Debussy   1903

1: 'Pagodes'

2: 'La soirée dans Grenade' ('Evening In Grenada')

3: 'Jardins sous la pluie' ('Gardens In the Rain')

Piano: Anna Zassimova   19 April 2012

Act III Scene 1 of 'Pelleas et Melisande' begins with Melisande singing 'Mes longs cheveux descendent' which Debussy recorded with Mary Garden in Paris in May of 1904 per G & T (Gramophone & Typewriter) matrix 3078F-11 issued on 33447, that one of four titles in all.

'Mes longs cheveux descendent'   Claude Debussy backing Mary Garden

Issued on G & T 33447 in 1904

A couple months later in July, Debussy composed 'Masques' for piano toward premiere at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on 18 February 1905 by pianist, Ricardo Viñes.

'Masques'   L 105   CD 134   Claude Debussy

Premiere by Ricardo Vines 18 Feb 1905 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris

Piano: David Korevaar   University of Colorado   26 Jan 2010

Yet married to Texier, in the summer of 1904 Debussy had met Emma Bardac, the mother of one of his students and wife of a Parisian banker. They soon took off for Normandy together that July. The next month Debussy sent Texier a letter of intent to end their marriage. Texier, who had threatened to kill herself five years earlier if Debussy didn't marry her, attempted suicide on the 14th of October, five days before their fifth wedding anniversary, and lived thereafter with a bullet lodged in her spine. Meanwhile, Bardac and Debussy each obtained a divorce from their respective spouses and bought a house in Paris that Debussy would call home until his death. It was 15 October 1905 that Debussy premiered 'La Mer' in Paris, the same month that Bardac gave birth to their daughter, Claude-Emma, aka Chouchou. 'La Mer', being Debussy's most considerable orchestral work, got revised in 1908.

'La Mer' ('The Sea')   L 109   CD 111   Claude Debussy   1903-05   Revised 1908

Premiere 10 Oct 1905 in Paris by the Orchestre Lamoureux conducted by Camille Chevillard

Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Pierre Monteux 19 July 1954

The first complete performance of Debussy's 'Images Set 1' arrived to Paris on 6 February 1906 with piano by Ricardo Viñes. 'Images Set 2' followed in Paris on 21 Feb of 1908, performed again by Vines.

'Images 1 & 2'   Claude Debussy

'Set 1'   L 110   CD 105   Composed 1904-05

'Set 2'   L 111   CD 120   Composed 1907

Piano: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Debussy and Bardac married in 1908, three years after the birth of their daughter in October 1905. It was Chouchou for whom Debussy wrote 'Children's Corner' which eventually premiered in Paris on 12 Dec 1908. The sixth and final movement of that is Debussy's famous 'Golliwogg's Cakewalk'.

'Children's Corner'   L 113   CD 119   Claude Debussy

Premiere 18 Dec 1908 in Paris w Harold Bauer at piano

Dedication to Chouchou

Piano: Pascal Rogé

Debussy composed Book 1 of 'Preludes' in 1909-10, followed by Book 2 in 1912-13. It was 1913 when Debussy produced fourteen works on six piano rolls for Welte & Sons on unknown dates, though a letter from Debussy to Welte on 1 Nov 1913 indicates that Debussy had heard the results to considerable satisfaction. The first of those was 'Children's Corner' on WM (Welte-Mignon) 2733. 'D’un cahier d’esquisses' was issued on WM 2734. 'La soirée dan Grenade' saw release on WM 2735, 'La plus que lente' on WM 2736'. 'Danseuses de Delphes', 'La Cathédrale engloutie' and 'La Danse de Puck' from 'Preludes' Book 1 found WM 2738. 'Le Vent dans la plaine' and 'Minstrels' from 'Preludes' Book 1 found WM 2739.

'Children's Corner'   Piano roll by Claude Debussy   WM (Welte-Mignon) 2733   1913

'Golliwogg's Cakewalk'   Piano roll by Claude Debussy  From WM (Welte-Mignon) 2733   1913

'Elegie'    L 138   CD 146   Claude Debussy   1915   Published 1916

Piano: Ernst Ueckermann

Debussy's last work in the Lesure directory of 2001 is CD 150 (missing from the '77 L1 directory), 'Les Soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon' ('Evenings Lit by Burning Coals') in A flat major composed in 1917, that a line from Charles Baudelaire's 'The Balcony' in 'Les Fleurs du Mal' of 1857. Debussy died of rectal cancer during World War I on 25 March 1918 as German artillery was shattering Paris. He was probably a pantheist.