Mention Claude Debussy and the word impressionism usually follows, although the composer was not shy in expressing his dislike for this tag. The term itself, borrowed from the visual arts, denotes creation of atmosphere with slight suggestions, as opposed to literal representations.
A brilliant pianist and hard-headed personality, Debussy is an extremely important figure in the vibrant musical period that bridges the late Romantic and Modernist eras in the twentieth century. His earliest studies showed enormous talent as a performer and composer combined with much curiosity and a disdain for the rules. Debussy developed his own sound and style though his colorful use of texture, scales, and modes, such as the whole-tone scale with conveys an otherworldly quality, and the pentatonic scale, which has an oriental sound.
In the song cycle, Ariettes Oubliées (Forgotten Songs), written between 1885 and 1887, Debussy sets six poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) for voice and piano. With each of the first four poems, a quote from another poet is included as an inspiration for the poem to come: I. Favart, II. Rimbaud, III. Cyrano de Bergerac, IV. Victor Hugo. All six songs are in French except for the English titles which Verlaine (who said the he liked the sound of the words “green” and “spleen”) gave to the last two. Debussy clearly lets the poems dictate the music, for he neither alters their form nor repeats text. What is stunning in Debussy’s musical adaptation of Verlaine’s poety, however, is the composer’s text painting. In the first song, the text is “it sounds like the gentle cry,” and Debussy has a large, yearning leap in the voice. Also, in the first song, the text reads “under the whirling water,” and the pianist responds with material that resembles a little stream running past. The text of the second song speaks of “raining over the city,” as Debussy, of course, responds by beginning the movement with the sound of raindrops. The fourth song, translated as “Wooden Horses,” begins with the sounds of merry-go-round horses in a bright, lively texture.
Program Notes are by Kyle Blaha, a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at The Juilliard School and faculty member in the Juilliard Pre-College and Evening Division.