Clair de lune, a masterpiece composed by Debussy, is one of my favorite piano piece. I went into this piece this summer. I liked it very much. So today, I want to share more information about this beautiful piano piece.
Starting with the composer — Debussy
Debussy, a French composer, was born in 1862. He is regarded as the first Impressionist composer though he didn’t like people relate the music with Impression and he rejected the term. Debussy wanted to create a dreamlike world of music. He used many continuous big chords in his music. The beautiful harmony created by the chords bring the audience to a sweet dream. In “Clair De Lune”, the use of the chords, and the story of the name are very interesting.
Unique Style
Debussy is persist in exploring his own style of music, combining the music of Baroque period (from around 1600 to 1750), and Impressionism, a style from visual arts. Some general characteristics of Baroque Music are Melody, Rhythm, and Texture. A single melodic idea, continuous rhythmic drive, and balance of homophobic (melody with chordal harmony) and polyphonic textures are elements from Baroque Music. Debussy used these elements and mixed with his own emotion when he was composing especially the chords using are the key of the whole piece. Impressionism is another important element in Clair De Lune. The word of impressionism was from visual arts. The main idea of Impressionism is “conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a derailed tone-picture”. So impressionism in music focuses on mood and atmosphere. Debussy created his music by letting his emotion go. When asked what rule he followed when he was composing, he scandalized his harmony teachers by answering: “Mon plaisir” (My pleasure). Because of his unique composing method, the unique style of his music was created. The audience can feel the freedom and the emotional advance when they were listening Clair De Lune.
Origin of the name
Another interesting fact was about the name of the piece. The meaning of “Clair De Lune” is moonlight. The name is inspired from Verlaine poems. The poem speaks of “an calme Claire de lune Trieste et beau” (the still moonlight sad and lovely). However, the name of the piece was actually added before it published. Unlike the other composers, Debussy had a habit to write the name of the piece at the end. So people will know the name of the piece after they listened the music. It was like telling people that if you really need a name, I can give you one. It also means that the audience do not need a name to interpret the piece. Their imagination and emotion will give the piece a “name”.
In conclusion, Debussy’s unique music style determines that he was an influential composer. His music was a turning point from Romantic music to the music of the 20th century.
One of my good friends really likes this piece but I didn’t know the facts surrounding the piece. Although I am familiar with Baroque art and architecture, I enjoyed learning about it from a classical music perspective since I am not musically talented at all. I like how you discussed it being somewhat of a fusion between the two genres and described his intention behind the piece.
I have never really understood music but it was interesting to learn a perspective from someone who throughly enjoys classical music. I enjoyed reading this blog as it incorporated your expierences from music and the piano in your other blogs in how you described this composition.
This is the one blog page that I find myself rarely ever having a clue of what the writer is talking about before reading. When I read the title of other people’s blogs, I get a rough sense of what I’m about to dive into. Here, however, I enjoy every blog because I get to learn about something I’ve never learned about before. Your knowledge of music is so clearly evident and it’s a pleasure to read about.