If we said that Claude Debussy revolutionized classical music, we would be paying him no due respect, so let's rephrase. Claude Debussy is part of the top 10 classical composers of all times and the first and foremost impressionist composer in the history of music.
Need we say more? We just had to prepare a special playlist with 10 of our most beloved compositions by the French maestro of music. Please enjoy his mystical and sensual compositions and share them with your loved ones.
The composer's best work and his own favorite composition, Clair de Lune was inspired by Paul Verlaine’s poetry and overall melancholic style. Debussy, too, shared the melancholy and beauty of the night in this unbelievably gorgeous song.
This playful song was dedicated to Debussy's daughter when she was still a toddler. The composer created 6 music pieces inspired by childhood in a collection called Debussy's Children’s Corner (1908), and this is the best example, in our opinion.
Nothing says impressionism like being inspired by Eastern art and music. The repetitive spiraling melodies in Arabesque No. 1 does just that. It reminds us of mesmerizing traditional Middle Eastern melodies, but with an Impressionist twist.
The name of this piece is translated as "reflects on the water surface". Here the composer attempted to provide a musical interpretation of how the beauty of nature is reflected on the water surface, rendering it slightly blurry & even more beautiful.
This particular piece was inspired by Javanese music. Debussy managed to incorporate the Javanese orchestral motives into his own personal style, which created a fresh and even modernist musical style and language.
This is the 1st of 3 musical compositions in the set Estampes (1903). This time, Debussy borrowed mysterious Oriental motifs to complement the European background. He uses a pentatonic scale that is very reminiscent of traditional Chinese music.
Remember the dizzy feeling you get every time you see your newly-found sweetheart? This composition is an ode to that feeling. Charles Baudelaire describes this dizzying feeling in his poem Harmonie du soir, the inspiration for this piece.
Emotions are like weather, like the 4 seasons. Debussy surely thought: if sadness had a season, it would be winter. This piece is from Book I of Préludes, and it is all about the loneliness and emptiness one inevitably experiences in the midst of a cold winter.
Toccata is another very famous composition. It can be described as energetic, but measured out, outgoing, but still graceful. This is the last piece in the collection of 3 in Pour le piano, and it is meant to leave the listener with a sense of a happy ending.
Our final choice had to be Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C., where Debussy affectionately reaches out to the main character of the novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. Like the character of the novel, this composition is subtly ironic.
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