Composer Commentary: Claude Debussy

Life, Overview of Piano Works, Performance Guide.

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I. Life

Claude-Achille Debussy was born on August 22, 1862, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a town about 20 kilometers west of Paris, as the eldest son of Manuel and Victorine Debussy. His family ran a pottery business, but their financial situation was not good, and Claude moved to Paris at the age of five. When the Paris Commune erupted in 1871, his father, who had joined the National Guard and fought, was arrested and imprisoned in Satory. There, he met Charles de Sivry, a composer and brother-in-law of the Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. It is believed that Sivry, consulted by Debussy's father about his son's musical education, introduced him to Madame Mauté, who is said to have been a pupil of Chopin and gave free lessons to the impoverished Claude.

In the autumn of 1872, Claude entered the piano class at the Paris Conservatoire. Although he only received a second prize in piano (only first prize was for graduation), he earned a first prize in accompaniment in 1880. For three consecutive summers starting that year, his travels to Russia and other regions as a musician for Madame von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patron, significantly influenced his musical development.

In late 1880, he began studying composition with Ernest Guiraud, and in 1884, on his third attempt, he won the Prix de Rome. This year also saw the publication of Verlaine's critical collection Les Poètes maudits and Huysmans' À rebours, marking the Symbolist and Decadent movements as the mainstream in literature. Debussy, deeply interested in literature, frequented the literary café Le Chat Noir, composed songs based on poems by Verlaine and Mallarmé, and subscribed to Symbolist literary magazines like La Revue Indépendante during his stay in Rome.

After returning from Rome, around 1890, he began frequenting the Librairie de l'Art Indépendant, where Symbolists gathered, and Mallarmé's Tuesday gatherings, forming close friendships with avant-garde poets. In 1893, his cantata La Damoiselle élue, based on a text by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Rossetti, premiered and attracted attention, leading to his acquaintance with the composer Ernest Chausson, who was seven years his senior. It was also in this year that he attended the stage premiere of Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande with Mallarmé and obtained permission to adapt it into an opera.

In 1893, his String Quartet premiered, followed by Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune in 1894, establishing his position as a rising composer. However, the performance of Pelléas et Mélisande, which was provisionally completed in 1895, was difficult to arrange, forcing him into a bohemian lifestyle. Although he married Lily, who worked in a women's fashion shop, in 1898, it is said that he had to earn the money for their celebratory dinner by giving piano lessons in the morning.

In 1901, his orchestral Nocturnes had its complete premiere, and the following year, in 1902, Pelléas et Mélisande premiered at the Opéra-Comique to great success, finally establishing Debussy as a leading composer. He was already 40 years old at this time.

Debussy's life reached a turning point in 1904. He met Emma Bardac, the mother of his composition student Raoul Bardac, and fell in love. In July of the same year, Debussy eloped with Emma to Jersey and never returned to his wife. A despairing Lily attempted suicide with a pistol, and most of Debussy's bohemian friends abandoned him.

In October 1905, the symphonic poem La Mer premiered. Half a month later, his only child, Chouchou (Claude-Emma), was born, and the family settled in a house in an upscale residential area of Paris. Although Debussy's composition fees significantly increased after Pelléas, his earnings could not keep up with the expenses of living with Emma's wealthy banker mother and daughter, servants, a cook, and Chouchou's nanny, which became a considerable burden.

In 1908, he began writing the libretto and composing an opera based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Debussy, already suffering from the symptoms of what would be fatal rectal cancer, worked feverishly on the composition, but progress was slow.

In 1911, the mystery play Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, commissioned by Ida Rubinstein, premiered, followed by the orchestral Images and the ballet Jeux in 1913, a series of premieres of major works.

In July 1914, World War I broke out. Debussy was deeply shocked, and his creative power significantly diminished, but the task of editing Chopin's complete works, commissioned by Durand, provided some solace.

In the summer of 1915, in the resort town of Pourville, Debussy's last creative surge ignited. In just two months, he completed the 12 Études for piano, and from a plan for six sonatas in various combinations, the Cello Sonata and Trio Sonata were finished.

In November of the same year, he underwent surgery for rectal cancer. In 1916, the works completed the previous year premiered, but Debussy only had the energy left to write the Violin Sonata.

In May 1917, he premiered the Violin Sonata with Gaston Poulet. Its re-performance in July at the spa town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz was his last public performance.

He died on March 25, 1918. He is now buried in Passy Cemetery.<toggle>

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II. Solo Piano Works

Solo Piano Works (Debussy's piano works often have a significant gap between their composition date, publication year, and premiere year. If composition spans multiple years, the publication year is indicated as "pub.")

II - A. 1890s

Although Debussy once aimed to be a pianist, few of his early piano works are truly original. This is because his interest was directed towards orchestral works and opera, and his existing piano pieces were merely a means of livelihood. Rather, a much more advanced style can be seen in the accompaniment parts of his early songs. In Rêverie and Ballade, composed in 1890, influences from Russian music, including Mussorgsky, are evident. Valse romantique and the four-hand duet Marche écossaise contain scattered main motifs from his unfinished opera Rodrigue et Chimène, which he was composing at the time.

Deux Arabesques, published in 1891, is the most complete of his early works. While Arabesque means an Arabic scroll pattern, here it can be interpreted as an elegant intertwining of curves. Debussy praised the flexible and fluid "arabesque" found in Bach's music in one review, which directly applies to his Arabesques.

Images oubliées, dated winter 1894, is dedicated to Yvonne Lerolle (daughter of the painter who was Chausson's wife's brother). The second piece, Sarabande, published independently in 1896, was transferred with minor changes to Pour le piano and dedicated to Madame Rouart, Yvonne's married name. The third piece, Quelques aspects de "Nous n'irons plus au bois", is also important as an origin for Pour le piano and Estampes. The opening is reminiscent of the beginning of the "Prélude" in Pour le piano. Also, the children's song "Nous n'irons plus au bois" used as a main motif was transferred to "Jardins sous la pluie" in Estampes, showing another development.

II - B. 1900s

Pour le piano, published in 1901, takes the form of a classical suite, with the first piece "Prélude" reflecting Bach's organ music, and the third piece "Toccata" reflecting the style and technique of 18th-century harpsichord music. The second piece "Sarabande" also imitates a classical dance, but shows the nascent unique idiom of Debussy, moving blocks of chords melodically.

Estampes, published in 1903, is the first innovative work among his piano pieces. The first piece "Pagodes" clearly shows the influence of Javanese Gamelan music, which Debussy encountered at the Paris Exposition of 1889, using the Gamelan Slendro scale. The second piece "Soirée dans Grenade" features a languid Moorish melody played over a habanera rhythm ostinato. Debussy never visited Spain, but according to Falla, it expresses "the most concentrated atmosphere of Andalusia, wonderfully purified."

The third piece "Jardins sous la pluie" uses a lullaby sung in France, along with the aforementioned "Nous n'irons plus au bois." Also, the scene where brilliant arpeggios erupt from the somber whole-tone scale sounds recalls the contrast between the "Underground Scene" and "Above Ground Scene" in Pelléas et Mélisande.

Masques and L'isle joyeuse, composed in 1904, are based on the Commedia dell'arte, which originated in 16th-century northern Italy. Actors from the Bergamo region performed improvised masked plays dressed as Pierrot and Harlequin. It became popular in 18th-century French courts, where aristocrats invited actors to hold "fêtes galantes." These feasts stimulated the imagination of writers in the late 19th century. L'isle joyeuse was inspired by Watteau's "L'embarquement pour Cythère," which depicted many scenes of "fêtes galantes," and shares commonalities with Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune in its sensual expression.

The above two pieces, along with one other, were originally planned to be published by Fromont as Suite bergamasque. However, because Durand published both pieces independently, Fromont published four pieces written before 1890 as Suite bergamasque in 1905. In the previous year's advertisement, "Clair de lune" had the title "Dialogue sentimental." "Passepied" was titled "Pavane" and shares commonalities with Fauré's "Pavane," which also has a "fêtes galantes" background.

Images, Book 1, published in 1905, is a masterpiece from his middle period, which Debussy himself praised, saying it would occupy a position "to the left of Schumann, to the right of Chopin." "Reflets dans l'eau" is not a description of various aspects of water like Ravel's "Jeux d'eau," but rather an expression of the composer's inner landscape while observing it, sharing commonalities with Symbolist poetry. "Hommage à Rameau," like the "Sarabande" in Pour le piano, moves chord blocks melodically over a leisurely dance rhythm. "Mouvement" is a harpsichord-like toccata, but it places geometric figures within an perpetual motion rhythm, creating abstract music reminiscent of his later 12 Études.

Images, Book 2, composed in 1907, has deep connections with the Orient. "Cloches à travers les feuilles" has Debussy's characteristic layered structure, with various bells arranged in pentatonic scales and whole-tone scales ringing in different rhythms, their sounds intertwining to create a static beauty. Even more static is "Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut." This piece is said to be derived from the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, and indeed, a sketch remains with "Buddha" written above a pentatonic scale accompanied by bell preludes. "Poissons d'or" was inspired by the koi carp in a lacquerware box collected by Debussy. Various pentatonic scales are used, but because it is a vibrant piece in triple meter, the Oriental image is not strongly felt.

Children's Corner, published in 1908, is dedicated to his beloved daughter Chouchou. It is the only work Debussy completed that year, and while simple, it exudes an ineffable melancholy.

"Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" is a parody of etudes for learners. Some commentaries describe it as a depiction of Chouchou herself practicing the piano, but if she played Clementi at two years and nine months, she would be a genius. The original title of "Jimbo's Lullaby," "Jimbo," is Chouchou's favorite doll. The lullaby also appearing in "Jardins sous la pluie" is used in the middle section. "Serenade for the Doll," published independently before the other pieces, creates a comical atmosphere with an ornamented pentatonic scale melody over a guitar-imitating accompaniment. "The Snow is Dancing" is a mysterious piece, and the opening motif played with soft staccato resembles the accompaniment figure of the third song "Le Tombeau des Naïades" from the song cycle Chansons de Bilitis. The melismatic melody of "The Little Shepherd" recalls the flute introduction of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Meanwhile, the dotted notes swaying left and right are common to L'isle joyeuse. The Golliwogg in "Golliwogg's Cakewalk" is a parody of the popular black doll of the time. It dances awkwardly to the rhythm of the cakewalk, a precursor to jazz.

II - C. 1910s

The two volumes of Préludes are not only the most important of Debussy's piano works but also one of the greatest masterpieces of early 20th-century piano music. The "titles" were written by the composer himself at the end of each piece with "..." as in "for example," giving them an evocative meaning, but here they are treated as titles for convenience.

Préludes, Book 1, written in a very short period from December 1909 to February 1910, can be said to be a culmination of Debussy's idiom, learned from Chopin, inspired by Mussorgsky and Oriental music, and rooted in harpsichord music.

• 1. Dancers of Delphi: It is said that the ancient Greek caryatids (female figures used as columns) displayed in the Louvre Museum were the source of inspiration.
• 2. Voiles: The original title has two meanings: ship sails and veils. It is said to represent either yacht sails fluttering in the wind or a dancer skillfully manipulating transparent veils.
• 3. Le vent dans la plaine: Taken from the epigraph "The wind in the plain holds its breath in the air" from the first song "Ce sont les tristes rêveries" of Verlaine's song cycle Ariettes oubliées.
• 4. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir: Based on a line from Baudelaire's poem "Harmonie du soir," it expresses a state of intoxication where the five senses are intertwined.
• 5. Les collines d'Anacapri: Begins with the lingering sound of a pentatonic scale bell, dances vigorously to a tarantella rhythm, intoxicates with a stylish Neapolitan folk song, and ends with brilliant arpeggios.
• 6. Des pas sur la neige: Above the hesitant rhythm ostinato, it is written: "This rhythm must have the hidden value at the bottom of a sad and frozen landscape."
• 7. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest: Based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale Paradise, about a prince who travels to find paradise, falls into a wind cave, and hears the adventures of the west wind.
• 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin: The title is taken from a poem by Leconte de Lisle, for which Debussy composed a song in his youth.
• 9. La sérénade interrompue: A work that evokes the sound of guitars and the clamor of flamenco heard from the Albaicín district of Granada. A passage from "Ibéria" of Images for orchestra is inserted in the middle section.
• 10. La Cathédrale engloutie: Based on a Breton legend that the city of Ys, which was submerged to the bottom of the sea overnight when a sluice gate was opened by a daughter in league with the devil, occasionally reappears above the sea.
• 11. La Danse de Puck: Based on a picture book by the English illustrator Arthur Rackham. It humorously depicts Puck, the mischievous fairy from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• 12. Minstrels: Refers to an American vaudeville troupe called the "Minstrel show." White performers painted their faces black to play dance music and entertained the audience with comical skits and acrobatics. Debussy saw their show in England in the summer of 1905.

Préludes, Book 2, completed in 1912 and premiered in 1913, contains more experimental and abstract works compared to Book 1, and is regarded as a precursor to 20th-century music.

• 1. Brouillards: The technique of mixing the sounds of the white and black keys of the piano creates an unreal atmosphere. Stefan Jarocinski called this idiom "Debussy's sound universe."
• 2. Feuilles mortes: The mysterious succession of chords at the beginning creates a floating effect by deliberately blurring the tonality.
• 3. La Puerta del Vino: Said to be inspired by a postcard of the Alhambra Palace sent by Falla. A dark and passionate melody unfolds in various ways to the rhythm of a habanera.
• 4. Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses: The title, like "La Danse de Puck" in Book 1, is taken from an illustration in Arthur Rackham's picture book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
• 5. Bruyères: A work full of deep sentiment. Among Debussy's music, which often has gloomy expression marks, there is a rare section marked "joyfully."
• 6. Général Lavine – eccentric: General Lavine was an American vaudeville performer. This work expresses Debussy's characteristic ironic humor.
• 7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune: An ethereal work said to be inspired by an article in Le Temps reporting on the coronation of Indian Emperor George V.
• 8. Ondine: Rackham's illustration for Fouqué's Undine is the source of inspiration. In the middle section, motifs from the unfinished opera The Fall of the House of Usher are used.
• 9. Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.: The title is taken from Dickens's work, which Debussy loved to read. It is a parody of the British national anthem, satirizing the upright British.
• 10. Canope: An ancient Egyptian jar used to hold internal organs after mummification for burial. Within the sounds of the whole-tone scale, the repeated notes of the "Theme of Collapse" from The Fall of the House of Usher cast an ominous shadow.
• 11. Les tierces alternées: Similar to 12 Études in its use of the sound of thirds as material. It is an arrangement of the harpsichord technique of "battre" (rapid alternation of hands).
• 12. Feux d'artifice: The alternation of black and white keys creates a polytonal effect. After the fireworks explode in a double glissando, the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, is faintly heard.

12 Études, composed in 1915, is a masterpiece that not only explores piano technique but also opens the door to 20th-century music compositionally. Although Debussy initially considered dedicating it to Couperin, it was ultimately dedicated to "the memory of Chopin." In a letter to Durand, he expressed gratitude to Madame Mauté, who had passed on Chopin's teachings.

• 1. "Pour les cinq doigts (d'après Monsieur Czerny)": A work in the same vein as "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" from Children's Corner. The phrase "d'après Monsieur Czerny" at the beginning is likely Debussy's unique irony, stemming from Chopin's teachings, who disliked Czerny.
• 2. "Pour les tierces": Similar in figure to Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 6, but with a different meaning. While Chopin's double-note etudes primarily aimed at finger independence and weight transfer, Debussy focused on the sound of thirds itself, using it as compositional material.
• 3. "Pour les quartes": A work in the same vein as "Pagodes" from Estampes, where the succession of fourths floating in space and the violent sounds like clanging bells evoke an Oriental image.
• 4. "Pour les sixtes": Rather than being written for hand expansion like Chopin's etudes, it has a greater significance as a sound experiment.
• 5. "Pour les octaves": Various octave techniques are explored, from the light staccato of Chopin's Op. 25, No. 9 to the strong legato of Op. 25, No. 10.
• 6. "Pour les huit doigts": Based on the idea of Chopin's Op. 10, No. 8, it creates an entirely new sound world by adding harpsichord-like "battre" and alternation of black and white keys.
• 7. "Pour les degrés chromatiques": A work that develops the fantasy of Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 2 and Liszt's Feux follets. Debussy wrote, "I think I have been able to extract something new from this somewhat worn-out technique."
• 8. "Pour les agréments": The title is derived from "agréments," a general term for ornaments from the harpsichord era. According to the composer's own expression, various ornamentation techniques arranged in Debussy's style are unfolded in the form of a "barcarolle on the Italian sea."
• 9. "Pour les notes répétées": A work that comically arranges repeated notes and "battre."
• 10. "Pour les sonorités opposées": Originates from the concept of "contrast," which is the starting point of Debussy's music. Various bell sounds are struck at different levels, creating a kind of cosmic sound effect, but occasionally the motif of a marching trumpet symbolizing war also echoes.
• 11. "Pour les arpèges composés": Early sketches were written with figures very similar to Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 1, but the final version is more reminiscent of Op. 25, No. 1.

• 12. "Pour les accords": Debussy, who had large, well-extended hands, is said to have easily grasped chords and enjoyed moving them in parallel. The last etude, which Debussy called "Swedish gymnastics," features bold left and right hand leaps that trouble pianists.<toggle>
  
  
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  III. Works for Piano Four-Hands and Two Pianos
  
  

• A) Petite Suite: A work for piano four-hands premiered in 1889, consisting of four pieces: "En Bateau," "Cortège," "Menuet," and "Ballet." The titles of the first and second pieces are taken from poems in Verlaine's poetry collection Fêtes galantes. The third piece is an arrangement of the song Fêtes galantes (1882) based on Banville's poem.
• B) Six Épigraphes Antiques: A suite written in 1914, arranged for piano four-hands based on elements from the music for recitation and pantomime Chansons de Bilitis (1900–1), which was based on poems by his friend, the poet Pierre Louÿs. The whole is divided into six pieces, each titled after Louÿs's poem titles or verses.
• C) En blanc et noir: A work for two pianos completed on July 20, 1915, during his last productive summer. The original title was Caprices, named after Goya's prints, which Debussy loved, but it was later changed. In a letter to Durand, he expressed that it had become too tragic, leaning too much towards black, so he decolorized it, resulting in a "Velázquez gray." This indicates that "white and black" in this case does not refer to the piano keys, but rather to the spirit of contrast that Debussy favored.<toggle>

<toggle>IV. Debussy's Piano Technique and Performance ConsiderationsDebussy was a composer who, to overcome Wagner, used the unique beauty of France as his weapon and opened the door to 20th-century music with his bold idiom. Disliking clear contrasts between major and minor keys, he utilized church modes, Oriental pentatonic scales, and whole-tone scales, creating planar, static beauty, much like Impressionist painters divided their canvases to avoid perspective.
Debussy's pianism has three main sources: Chopin's technique conveyed through Madame Mauté (velvety touch, beautiful sound, light rhythm, etc.), Bach's style, also revealed by Madame Mauté (contrapuntal, elegant arabesque, etc.), and 18th-century harpsichord techniques (diverse ornaments, "battre," etc.).
Debussy's unique idioms include mixing the sounds of white and black keys with the pedal, parallel movement of double notes and chord blocks, and layering multiple sound levels to create a distinctive "sound universe," as well as using polyrhythms and rubato extensively to create free rhythms.
In 1907, Debussy wrote, "I am more and more convinced that music is made of colors and rhythmicized time," a phrase that symbolizes Debussy's approach of being free from tonality and rhythm while maintaining organic unity.
Just as Préludes, Book 1 was composed concurrently with "Ibéria" from Images for orchestra, many of Debussy's piano works have close connections with his orchestral works, operas, and vocal pieces. Therefore, merely interpreting them as piano pieces would be incomplete; one must incorporate the underlying texts and the orchestral color.
The use of the pedal is indispensable for Debussy's "sound universe," but his ideas are often orchestral, requiring a touch and pedaling that clearly differentiate multiple sound levels.
Debussy, who had a deep interest in Oriental art and incorporated it into his works, expressed his motto for composition as "saying half of things and grafting them onto the imagination." This attitude of not revealing everything, but rather delving deeply and quietly, makes him the composer closest to the aesthetic sense of Orientals, especially the Japanese aesthetic.<toggle>