Claude Debussy’s place in music history comes after the height of the Romantic era at a time of transition to the twentieth century. Along with the composer Maurice Ravel, Debussy has become synonymous with impressionism, a term borrowed from visual art referring to works that use allusion and atmosphere in comparison with the dramatic, emotional style of the Romantic Era. Debussy accomplished this unique coloring in his music through parallel, unresolved dissonances and simultaneous harmonic areas. Another important aspect of Debussy’s music came from the Javanese gamelan ensemble that he heard at the World’s Fair of 1889 in Paris. His most famous works include the beautiful Clair de Lune from his Suite bergamasque, the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and his String Quartet in G Minor.

At age eleven, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied composition, harmony, solfège, piano and organ with the noted musician César Franck. His early works were heavily influenced by the Symbolist movement pioneered by the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé. Symbolism is also evident in the composer’s only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande of 1901, whose libretto was adapted by the poet Maurice Maeterlinck. Debussy was also influenced by early twentieth-century popular American music, as can be heard in Golliwog’s Cakewalk from his Children’s Corner Suite of 1909.

The Petite Suite is another example of music from the late Romantic Era that reflects the composer’s desire to write music for the skilled amateur. The work was originally written for four-hand piano, but was also arranged for orchestra by the composer. The first movement is entitled En bateau (in a boat) and suggests the ebb and flow of water through broken chords. The second movement, Cortège, is reminiscent of a parade. In the next movement, Minuet, one can hear elves at play, and the final movement is Debussy’s depiction of a festive dance.

-- Kyle Blaha