Claude Debussy Essay

Analysis of Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune

Achille-Claude Debussy, was a French musician and composer, whose works are monument to the power music has in evoking images. He is often described as the musician who rescued France from the dominance of German music (Simms, 1996 p. 168). Debussy was active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and is commonly referred to as an “Impressionists”. However, Debussy created his own independent style, rather than working within a single movement (Impressionism). He persistently objected to being termed an Impressionist, and here is what he wrote to his publisher regarding his orchestral pieces, “What I am trying to do is something ‘different’ – an effect of reality, but what some fools

‘Clair de Lune’ is one of Claude Debussy’s most well-known pieces. It is originally a part of his Suite Bergamasque which also includes the following compositions: Prélude, Menuet, and Passepied (Orledge, 1981 p. 23). Although Debussy composed the piece in 1890 at the age of 25, it was not until 1905 that it was published (Gatti, Debussy, & Martens, 1921 p. 424). The name of this composition has its own context behind it. According to some, this peiece was originally tilted ‘Promenade Sentimentale”, but was retitled, ‘Clair de Lune’ which was inspired by a French poem of the same name written by Paul Verlaine in 1869 (Simms, 1996 p.

This piece is the third movement, and is often considered the lyrical climax of the suite, and the opening theme of this piece is derivative from music heard in the preceding movements of the suite (Simms, 1996 p. 172). The Suite Bergamasque was significantly revised before its publication in 1905, due to the hatred Debussy had in the earlier piano style in which the movements of this suite were originally written (“Suite bergamasque”, 2015). The first three movements of this suite consist of a common motive: “‘Prélude’: F – E – F – E – D (bar 11) ‘Menuet’: G – F – G – F – E (bar 6) ‘Clair de lune’: F – E♭ – F – E♭ – D♭ (bars 1–2)” (“Suite bergamasque”, 2015, “Structure,” para. 1). The context behind ‘Clair de Lune’ has many layers, some of which I have mentioned above; however, it is discovering who Debussy was as a musician that gives true meaning to this piece of