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Who wrote Clair de Lune?
When did Claude Debussy write Clair de Lune?
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Was Clair de lune based on a poem?
Clair de lune, the third segment in Suite bergamasque, a four-movement composition for piano by French composer Claude Debussy, begun in 1890 and revised and published in 1905. The gentle “Clair de lune” provides an elegant contrast to the suite’s sprightly second and fourth movements.
- Suite Bergamasque
Suite bergamasque, four-movement suite for piano by French...
- Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy, French composer whose works were a seminal...
- Suite Bergamasque
- Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’: The Story Behind The Masterpiece
- The Soul of Symbolism
- Can We Hear The Poem in Debussy’s Music?
- Can I Play It? – Featuring A Lesson with Lang Lang
- Debussy’s Own Advice on How to Play ‘Clair de Lune’
- Recommended Recording
Debussy actually wrote three ‘Clair De Lunes’. The idea is from a poem by Paul Verlaine in his collection entitled Fêtes Galantes, themselves inspired by the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Debussy set six of these poems to music, including this one, first in 1882, then again in 1891. The piano piece dates originally from 1890 and wa...
Watteau’s paintings are stylised, delicate portrayals of courtly life and love in idyllic pastoral settings, the protagonists sometimes costumed for masquerades as Commedia Dell’Artecharacters (Harlequin, Pierrot, Columbine, et al). Verlaine took up this atmosphere of disguise and implied hidden desires and carried it into the late 19th century’s S...
Only to a certain degree, perhaps – because originally the piece had a completely different title, which was ‘Promenade Sentimentale’. That, too, is from Verlaine, after verses from his Poèmes Saturniens. But when Debussy decided to switch to the more descriptive and precise ‘Clair De Lune’, he probably had a good reason to do so. The work shares t...
In terms of piano technique ‘Clair De Lune’ is simpler than many of Debussy’s other pieces, but it does have complications of its own. In particular, we need to pay attention to the quality of touch and sound and the subtle gradations of dynamics within those mainly muted colours. Lang Lang says the opening of Debussy’s ‘Clair De Lune’ is like glim...
Interestingly, we also have Debussy’s own advice on how to play ‘Clair De Lune’. The pianist Maurice Dumesnil once visited the composer for a coaching session and wrote an article about what he had learned. He reports that Debussy did not want the triplets in the first section to be too strictly in time: there should be “a general flexibility”. Dum...
Debussy’s ‘Clair De Lune’ is featured on Lang Lang’s album Piano Book– a collection of pieces that first inspired Lang Lang to play the piano as a child and led him on his path to international stardom. Lang Lang said, “I dedicate this album to my wonderful piano students and all my friends around the world who love the piano as much as I do.” Buy ...
- Jessica Duchen
Feb 27, 2019 · Claude Debussy started writing the incredibly romantic piano piece Clair de lune in 1890 when he was just 28, but it wasn’t published for another 15 years! The title means ‘Moonlight’ and the piece is actually part of the four-movement work Suite Bergamasque.
Clair de lune, French for Moonlight, is the third movement of the piano suite Suite bergamasque by Claude Debussy. Originally written in 1890, an unknown publisher urged Debussy to sell the...
Aug 18, 2024 · Claude Debussy, French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired.
- Edward Lockspeiser
Jun 16, 2023 · Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer most famous for his piano and orchestral music. Works like Clair de Lune have become piano standards while La Mer, with its unusual use of instruments...
Jul 26, 2017 · The original title of Clair de Lune was actually Promenade sentimentale (Sentimental stroll), after a different Verlaine poem from an 1866 collection called Paysages tristes (Sad Landscapes).