 Claire de lune
Composer: Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy is often described as an impressionist composer because
of his genius for painting images in sound, and this is perfectly illustrated
by the lovely sensuous strains of 'Claire de lune' (moonlight).
Listening to it, as I was not many moments before I started writing
these words, I did not need to pull my curtains to see the moon that will
be lighting my garden, and reflecting in the goldfish pond. The music itself
evokes its silvery light.
At first the music is quiet, peaceful, even tinged with a kind of melancholy
. Then it becomes more urgent; rippling notes bring a change of mood, the
surface of the pool is disturbed, the senses race, the pulse quickens,
and then finally the opening theme returns, and all is serene once more...
Debussy was one of the most influential composers for the piano of his
time. Rejecting the lush romantic music of that period, he developed his
own highly individual and refined style. His music reflected the artistic
styles of France as he knew them, Symbolism in literature, and Impressionism
in painting, so that his work is often linked or compared with painters
from Turner whom he greatly admired; to Monet whose water colours are often
the visual counterparts of his pieces.
"Music has this over painting" Debussy is said to have declared in 1906,
"it can bring together all manner of variations of colour and light, and
of course is always in motion as opposed to static as a painting can only
be".
He believed his music should have 'colour and rhythms' rather than the
'lifeless rules invented by pedants'.
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