Debussy - Clair de Lune
by Henry Sloan
An impression of moonlight, this revolutionary masterpiece is many people's first experience with classical music; but don't mistake its fame for simplicity!Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer. His career spanned the late Romantic era into the early modern era of music. His music is often labeled "Impressionist", in analogy with French painters like Claude Monet. Though Debussy rejected this label, the unique sparseness and inexactness of his music makes the comparison clear.
Clair de Lune means "moonlight" in French, and is the title of Debussy's defining masterpiece. The piece is contained in Debussy's Suite bergamasque, and the names of both the suite and the piece come from a poem by Paul Verlaine. The piece has gained fame for its simplicity, variety, and refreshing use of silence.