French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century.

He developed a
highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to
which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired.

Claire de lune

French composer Claude Debussy’s best-loved piano piece, Clair de Lune, has entered popular
consciousness thanks to its regular performance. Its origins are complex and fascinating, combining
influences from poetry, the music of the Baroque period (from around 1600 to 1750), and
Impressionism, a style in music following on from that in visual arts.The piece’s title, meaning
“moonlight”, was added shortly before its publication in 1905 as the third movement of a four-part work
called Suite Bergamasque. It was the same year Debussy’s beloved daughter, Claude-Emma, known as
Chouxchoux, was born.

The title comes from a poem of the same name, published in 1869, by the Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.
Debussy had already set this poem for voice and piano twice before, along with 18 other Verlaine
poems. The poem speaks of “au calme clair de lune triste et beau” (the still moonlight sad and lovely).It
also describes “charmante masques et bergamasques”, which may have inspired the name of the whole
suite. “Bergamasques” refers to masked festivals in the ancient Italian theatre tradition, common also
through France, using archetypal peasant characters such as Harlequin, Columbine and Scaramouche
from the town of Bergamo.
Prelude to the afternoon of a faun

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, French Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, tone poem for orchestra
by Claude Debussy. The original orchestral version was completed in 1894, and Debussy reworked it for
performance on two pianos in 1895. The work is considered a quintessential example of musical
Impressionism, a compositional style popular at the turn of the 20th century that was influenced by the
artistic school of the same name.

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is a musical evocation of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem “Afternoon of a
Faun,” in which a faun—a half-man, half-goat creature of ancient Greek legend—awakes to revel in
sensuous memories of forest nymphs.

La mer

Claude Debussy’s La Mer (“The Sea”) is not a literal

portrait of the ocean. There is no “program” or story, as we might hear in Beethoven’s “Pastoral”
Symphony or a Strauss tone poem. Instead, La Mer takes us deep into the world of atmosphere,
metaphor and synesthesia (a blurring of senses). Shimmering colors, the play of light on water, and a
vivid sense of motion blend together to form a magical, ever-changing soundscape. As with the sea, La
Mer runs the cosmic gamut from serene tranquility to terrifying, awe-inspiring power.

Maurice Ravel Maurice Ravel, in full Joseph-Maurice Ravel,

(born March 7, 1875, Ciboure, France—died December 28, 1937, Paris), French composer of Swiss-
Basque descent, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style in such works as
Boléro (1928), Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899; Pavane for a Dead Princess), Rapsodie espagnole
(1907), the ballet Daphnis et Chloé (first performed 1912), and the opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges (1925;
The Child and the Enchantments).
Boléro, one-movement orchestral work composed by Maurice Ravel and known for beginning softly and
ending, according to the composer’s instructions, as loudly as possible.

Bolero is perhaps most famous as the love theme for Dudley Moore and Bo Derek in the 1979 movie 10.
But Maurice Ravel didn't strictly have romance in mind when he composed the classic piece a half-
century earlier, music commentator Miles Hoffman says.Bolero started out as a ballet score
commissioned by dancer Ida Rubenstein. Her troupe danced the composition's first performance at the
Paris Opera in 1928. It was an instant hit.
The commission for Daphnis and Chloé came to Ravel in 1909 from Serge Diaghilev, impresario of the
Ballets Russes. This legendary troupe was a virtual hothouse of creative talent, attracting the greatest
composers and artists of the day. The ballet’s myth-based plotline, though unfamiliar here, was well
known in France since Renaissance times. It combines elements of a pastoral romance, a heroic
adventure and a fairy tale. The action takes place on the legendary Greek isle of Lesbos in a sylvan grove
sacred to the god Pan and depicts how childhood companionship flares into passionate romance
between two foundlings, Daphnis and Chloé, raised by shepherds.

As friendship blooms between them, Daphnis teaches Chloé to play the pan-pipes and they instruct each
other in life. Their naïve but increasingly passionate relationship foreshadows modern romances such as
The Blue Lagoon: They don’t realize they are falling in love, though it is obvious to us as we watch (or
listen). When Chloé is abducted by pirates, Daphnis prays to the god Pan, who could be described as the
patron saint of rustics, for aid. And aid them he does: the transcendent, ethereal chorus that is a
signature sound of this ballet score depicts the god Pan’s entry into the pirates’ camp. His very presence
overwhelms the pirates with fear of his power — the word “panic” is derived from “Pan” — and Chloé’s
escape is effected in time for the ballet to close in triumph.
Maurice Ravel composed La Valse between 1919 and 1920, with the premiere taking place on 12th
December 1920 in Paris. Although originally conceived as music for ballet, La Valse is now more
commonly heard as a concert piece. The commission from the work came from Sergei Diaghilev, with
the original title reading as La Valse, poème chorégraphique. The work was to be used for a new
production by the Ballets Russes, however after Ravel completed the score, Diaghilev bailed. He disliked
the music and commented that it had “no balletic character.” This then led to the ballet not being
produced at all, as well as Diaghilev and Ravel’s relationship coming to a sour end.