Clair De Lune Mood

The picaresque novel ‘Candide, or Optimism’, written by Voltaire, is a French satire first published in 1759. The author ridicules the hypocrisy of religion and most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. Voltaire mocks those that would place too much faith in optimism. Disasters of all kinds befall the protagonist Candide, as well as almost every other character involved, in order to reveal the problems that lie in extricating oneself from responsibility of one’s actions—leaving it to God, to fate or to nature when instead, we should think for ourselves and take the responsibility for our actions. The writer posits our world is most certainly not “the best of all possible worlds”. Voltaire suggests that we should occupy ourselves

I found this piece very interesting; it tells a clear story, and has a dissonant accompanist which makes it sound stylistically similar to the music of musical theatre.

The abundance of harmonies never loses the thread to his audience. Furthermore, the opening of the slow movement inspires the imagination and attention of its listeners. All these elements make this piece one of the most successful concertos in the musical history.

8.      Claude Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born Achille-Claude Debussy in 1862 in St.-Germain-en-Laye, France, his mature compositions, distinctive and appealing, combined modernism and sensuality so successfully that their sheer beauty often obscures their technical innovation. Debussy is considered the founder and leading exponent of musical Impressionism (although he resisted the label), and his adoption of non-traditional scales and tonal structures was paradigmatic for many composers who followed. The son of a shopkeeper and a seamstress, Debussy began piano studies at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 11. While a student there, he encountered the wealthy Nadezhda von Meck, whom was most famous as Tchaikovsky's patroness. She employed Debussy as a music teacher to her children; through travel, concerts and acquaintances, she provided him with a wealth of musical experience. Most importantly, she exposed the young Debussy to the works of Russian composers, such as Borodin and Mussorgsky, who would remain important influences on his music. Debussy began composition studies in 1880, and

inspiration for the composition of the piece, as it was written in French to make use of the language’s sound and enhance its decadence.

Sound painting is also displayed in many of the works. The entire pieces except Stravinsky’s I would say are undoubtedly romantic works. An additional unifying theme that I detected in all the pieces was that there lies unconventional beauty and one must carefully listen to recognize its presence.

Debussy took solfege classes with Albert Lavignac in his first three years. Albert Lavignac was surprised to see that Debussy “had a remarkable degree of musical sensibility, a taste for unusual chords, complex rhythms, and unexpected progression of subtle harmonies” (Vallas 1973 4). It was clear that Debussy had a mature musical taste even at the young age of 11. He was not interested in conventional musical ideas even then.

Although I enjoyed both pieces of music I really enjoyed the works of Gustav Mahler and his piece Lied von der Erde. This piece is rich in drama. I feel that the texture used is this song is imitative polyphony. I feel that there are various parts in this song that use the similar melodies. I feel that the harmony between the two vocalists were right on with each other and the orchestra. You can hear the brass instruments in the very beginning of the songs then the strings, wind instruments along with the piano and keyboards begin to make their entrance. They come together very strong but in a peaceful way at first. Towards the middle of the song the tempo and rhythm really picks up (it seems as if all of their emotions are bursting out) then it slowly begins to drop back to slower movements. You can really hear the strings during this time. But surprisingly enough just when you think the song is going to end boom your hit again. This song keeps you on the edge of your

“Pagodes” is taken from Claude Debussy’s “Estampes”, a collection of three pieces for solo piano composed in 1903. Working from Paris, in these pieces Debussy explores the beginnings of the new French impressionist style that Debussy was a central innovator in, though Debussy personally rejected the term. “Estampes” moves away from the predominantly German, late-Romantic style by avoiding extreme length and melodic complexity in favour of, as Michael Kennedy describes it, “conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject” through briefer and melodically simpler pieces. Debussy also moves away from the tonal system, utilising techniques such as the use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scales and quartal and quintal chords to create

Bergeron, paradoxically yet successfully, chooses to get to the core of the French mélodie by looking at it from a distance. Her focuses on the mélodie’s complex relationship with the German Lied, the pedagogical movements of the French language in the late-nineteenth century, and Claude Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Melisande in order to “examine the range of French expression [Debussy] puts on stage and how he represents that range in music” are all indirect yet inventive ways in which Bergeron embraces the challenges of defining this elusive vocal genre (xiii). Perhaps Bergeron sets out to define the French mélodie through indirect methods for exactly that reason; a genre as complex as the mélodie could not be fully understood if one attempted to get to its center through traditional means. Stating that French art song is “a musical repertory based on […] delicacy and restraint […]”, Bergeron clearly has a grasp on

His artworks have a distinctive impact on the viewer, which makes them distinguishable among any other artwork of the time. His paintings had had a strong influence on the artists of the future.

Besides, Claude Debussy as one of the most brilliant musician of the Impressionist music was inspired by Katsushika Hokusai’s painting. More specifically, La Mer

In later years following his graduation, after composing his ‘Suite Bergamasque’ for piano, he found himself in the impressionist art movement with fellow composers -like Maurice Ravel- because of the link French music had with the paintings of Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Van Gogh and other modern, like-minded artists, even though he stated that he never felt connected to the movement with the words,

Aspects of Mood Presented Through Setting in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi"

Claude Debussy was born in France on August 22, 1862 during a decade in which Roger Nichols’s claims was one of “the low points of French musical life” (4). Debussy clashed with the musical norms of his time due to his fascination with writing music for how it sounds and feels. Lesure writes, “Ever since his years at the Conservatoire, Debussy had felt that he had more to learn from artists than from career-obsessed musicians” (5). Debussy composed from the ideas around him and this is heard in his composition of “Clair de lune”. Claude Debussy’s “Claire de lune” is one of his most beloved and known piano works. “Clair de lune” is the third movement of Debussy’s piano concerto, Suite Bergamasque, published in 1905 and offers a view into the complexity and originality of Claude Debussy. “Clair de lune” beautifully displays Debussy’s fascination with nature and symbolist poetry. Debussy uses form and atmospheric phrasing to depict the melancholic and subdued beauty of nature.