about Debussy and La Mer
Who was Claude Debussy?
Debussy was born in France in 1862 and died in Paris in 1918.
He wrote for many different combinations of instruments. One interesting
work is a sonata for flute viola and harp. Debussy wrote music straight
through to his death. His first major orchestral work, Prelude to
the Afternoon of a Fawn, was written when he was only 20 years old.
He entered the Paris conservatory at age eleven as a piano performer, but
exited as a composer. Debussy was born in a bourgeois family. His
father owned a china shop and was also working as a travelling salesman,
a printer's assistant, and a clerk. His mother was a seamstress. Debussy
went to the Conservatory in Paris, where he studied for ten years, from
1872 to 1884. Starting from the year 1907 Debussy took several trips to
England, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Russia to play
the piano and conduct his works. His success in England brought him international
fame and he was appointed a member of the advisory board of the Paris Conservatory.
About La Mer
La Mer (The Sea) was composed from1903-1905 and published in 1905.
It consists of three movements, each pertaining to some aspect of the sea.
These movements are titled:
1. De l’aube à midi sur la mer (From Dawn to Noon
on the Sea)
2. Jeux de vagues (Wave Play)
3. Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of Wind and Sea)
Themes from the third movement of La Mer:
Click the following to hear each of the themes from Dialogue du
vent et la mer
Theme 1 musicexamples/lamer1.vcd
Theme 2 musicexamples/lamer2.vcd
Theme 3 musicexamples/lamer3.vcd
Theme 4 musicexamples/lamer4.vcd
Theme 5 musicexamples/lamer5.vcd
Click here ot listen to the entire
third movement
These themes are used throughout the entire third movement. He uses fragments of these melodies and also layers two motives on top of each other.
Here is a picture of Debussy during his the conservatory
Debussy as a kid
Debussy and his good composer friend, Igor Stravinsky
How was Debussy different from other composers?
Debussy was an innovative composer. His ideas of rhythm, melody,
texure and orchestration went totally against the grain from others composers
of his day. Here are some information on these aspects of his
writing.
Meter and Rhythm: Debussy's music is nonpulsatile, with a vaguely defined metrical feeling. Unlike other music, with strong beats(like marches), his music didn't have strong beats or strong rhythm at all.
Melody: Debussy's themes and motives are fragmentary and tentative, and often draw upon church modes, pentatonic, whole-tone, or some other original scale. This simplicity of melody lends itself well to development of the idea.
Texture: Debussy's orchestral music is usually a simple melody with light accompaniment (thin texture). He usually doesn't make everyone play unitl the very end(thick texture).
Instrumentation and Orchestration: Debussy's orchestral sound is unique in that his orchestra places less emphasis on the strings, and more emphasis on the entire orchestra as a team, a complete unit. Each instrument seems to have its moment of glory in each piece.