What type of music is clair de lune

But it paints a picture, it creates a mood, and takes us somewhere beautiful. All of the second section involves running arpeggios and plenty of motion. Arpeggio fragments continue in the left hand, creating a fluid and changing harmony.

Finally, in the ending arpeggios that echo part two, we get that perfect cadence, the dominant-to-tonic harmony that Debussy used extremely sparingly in the entire piece. Finally, at the end of the song, we get a sense of peace by hearing that cadence. It gives us our tonal footing, and makes the final notes feel well-earned and satisfying.

Thanks for stopping by for this analysis of Clair de Lune! What is a Bergamask? Composed by Claude Debussy Masterworks; Piano Solo; Solo. Kalmus Edition. Form: Suite. Single piece.

Edited by Christopher Harding. Schirmer Performance Editions. Softcover Audio Online. Published by G. This poem is more likely to have been the inspiration for the music. The stillness and meditative calm of these lines are evoked with great beauty at the opening of the piece:.

This builds to an intense moment perhaps recalling a later passage in the poem:. Following on from this, the opening ideas reappear, entering more softly this time and descending gradually to more lush and subtly darker harmonies, coloured by added notes.

Referencing this style was popular after the midth century. It celebrated what was seen as the golden age of French music, and pushed back against what the French saw as the grandiosity of Wagner and declared French identity during a time of increasing militarisation in Germany. In this context the original title makes more sense as a break between the Menuet and Passepied dances. Touchingly, each movement is dedicated to his friends recently fallen in the first world war. Despite this context and initial inspiration, Clair de Lune has no hint of actual Baroque style.

It is unclear when this particular movement was completed but its sensual textures and poetic references to nature are closer to what we think of as musical Impressionism than the other movements of the Suite Bergamasque. Most of the suite was composed around , but Debussy made substantial revisions in the year before its eventual publication in These included the name change from Promenade sentimentale to Clair de Lune.