Claude Debussy – La Mer

“La Mer” L.109, (The Sea), is an orchestral composition by Claude Debussy. It was started in 1903 in France and completed in 1905 on the English Channel coast in Eastbourne. The premiere was given by the Lamoureux Orchestra under the direction of Camille Chevillard on 15 October 1905 in Paris. “La Mer” is a composition of huge suggestion and subtlety in its rich depiction of the ocean, which combines unusual orchestration with daring impressionistic harmonies. The work has proven very influential, and its use of sensuous tonal colours and its orchestration methods have influenced many later film scores. While the structure of the work places it outside of both absolute music and programme music as those terms were understood in the early 20th century, it obviously uses descriptive devices to suggest wind, waves and the ambience of the sea. But structuring a piece around a nature subject without any literary or human element to it – neither people, nor mythology, nor ships are suggested in the piece – also was highly unusual at the time.
Debussy called his work “three symphonic sketches,” avoiding the loaded term symphony; yet the work is sometimes called a symphony; it consists of two powerful outer movements framing a lighter, faster piece which acts as a type of scherzo. 
“La Mer” is divided inot three movements:
1. “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” (from dawn to midday on the sea);
2. “Jeux de vagues” (Play of the Waves);
3. “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” (Dialogue of the wind and the sea).

Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy & Cleveland Orchestra

 

Claude Debussy – La Mer

“La Mer” L.109, (The Sea), is an orchestral composition by Claude Debussy. It was started in 1903 in France and completed in 1905 on the English Channel coast in Eastbourne. The premiere was given by the Lamoureux Orchestra under the direction of Camille Chevillard on 15 October 1905 in Paris. “La Mer” is a composition of huge suggestion and subtlety in its rich depiction of the ocean, which combines unusual orchestration with daring impressionistic harmonies. The work has proven very influential, and its use of sensuous tonal colours and its orchestration methods have influenced many later film scores. While the structure of the work places it outside of both absolute music and programme music as those terms were understood in the early 20th century, it obviously uses descriptive devices to suggest wind, waves and the ambience of the sea. But structuring a piece around a nature subject without any literary or human element to it – neither people, nor mythology, nor ships are suggested in the piece – also was highly unusual at the time.
Debussy called his work “three symphonic sketches,” avoiding the loaded term symphony; yet the work is sometimes called a symphony; it consists of two powerful outer movements framing a lighter, faster piece which acts as a type of scherzo. 
“La Mer” is divided inot three movements:
1. “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” (from dawn to midday on the sea);
2. “Jeux de vagues” (Play of the Waves);
3. “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” (Dialogue of the wind and the sea).

Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy & Cleveland Orchestra

 

Claude Debussy Nocturnes: No.3 “Sirens”

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Nocturnes, sometimes Trois Nocturnes or Three Nocturnes, is an orchestral composition (L 91) in three movements by the French composer Claude Debussy. It was completed on 15 December 1899.

 

 The three movements are:

• I. Nuages (“Clouds”)
• II. Fêtes (“Festivals”)
• III. Sirènes (“Sirens“)

The three movements were inspired by a series of impressionist paintings, also entitled “Nocturnes” by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.^[1]

Debussy wrote an “introductory note” to Nocturnes as follows:

“The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in a general and, more particularly, in a decorative sense. Therefore, it is not meant to designate the usual form of the Nocturne, but rather all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests. ‘Nuages’ renders the immutable aspect of the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with white. ‘Fêtes’ gives us the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with sudden flashes of light. There is also the episode of the procession (a dazzling fantastic vision), which passes through the festive scene and becomes merged in it. But the background remains resistantly the same: the festival with its blending of music and luminous dust participating in the cosmic rhythm. ‘Sirènes’ depicts the sea and its countless rhythms and presently, amongst the waves silvered by the moonlight, is heard the mysterious song of the Sirens as they laugh and pass on.”^[2]

Debussy at the piano, in front of the composer Ernest Chausson, 1893 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nuages and Fêtes were premiered by Camille Chevillard with the Lamoureux Orchestra on 9 December 1900 in Paris. The complete suite was first heard under the same forces on 27 October 1901. The initial performances met with a cool response from critics and the public, but today these are considered some of Debussy’s most accessible and popular works, admired for their beauty.^[3] The music lasts for about 22 minutes. 

Related articles

• Debussy: Préludes – review (guardian.co.uk)
• The Life and Music of Claude Debussy (wqxr.org)
• Watch exclusive footage with Sir Simon Rattle rehearsing the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Debussy’s La mer (classicalmusic.southbankcentre.co.uk)
• Debussy Arabesque No. 1 blends well with East Bay seascapes (Video) (arioso7.wordpress.com)