| If asked to name a piano piece that is | | | | years before Debussy discovered his works, a |
| near-perfect, one noted example comes to mind | | | | cult had grown up around his music. |
| for many people. That piece is Clair de Lune by | | | | Wagner's influence was not to last, though, as |
| Claude Debussy. Clair de Lune, the third and most | | | | Debussy's pieces tended to be more introverted |
| famous movement of Debussy's Suite | | | | than the extravagant Wagnerian sounds. He |
| Bergamasque, has entranced listening ears for | | | | wrote his Suite Bergamasque, containing Clair de |
| over century. It has been the inspiration for many | | | | Lune, in his late 20s. As a sublime example of |
| dramatic film sequences, as well as the song | | | | Debussy's sensual, quiet style, Clair de Lune may |
| "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Disney's | | | | be perhaps his most lasting gift to the music |
| Pinocchio. | | | | world. |
| The son of a china shop owner and a | | | | This lustrous piece was inspired, as were his |
| seamstress, Claude Debussy began to reveal his | | | | earlier pieces, by one of his friend Verlaine's |
| brilliance at the age of seven when he started | | | | poems. Verlaine's poem "Clair de Lune" contains a |
| learning the intricacies of the piano. He soon | | | | reference to a bergamask, a clumsy dance |
| attracted the attention of Mme. de Fleurville, | | | | performed by the natives of Bergamo. The |
| whose son-in-law, French poet Paul Verlaine, would | | | | French spelling of bergamask gives the entire |
| help inspire the piece with one of his poems. | | | | suite its memorable name. The name "Clair de |
| Verlaine was also acquainted with Frederique | | | | Lune," literally translated as "moonlight," is a |
| Chopin, as he was one of Chopin's pupils. | | | | perfect name, since the piece gives distinct |
| Debussy began his proper musical studies at the | | | | images of moonlight with its rolling notes and |
| illustrious Paris Conservatory at the age of eleven. | | | | glorious harmonies. |
| He spent twelve years studying under the giants | | | | Played properly, Clair de Lune requires a technical |
| of the age, stealing their secrets and arguing | | | | mastery of sweeping left hand movements and |
| against the rigidity of the musical theory of the | | | | modulations in intensity to reach its timeless |
| day. Debussy favored dissonance, which was a | | | | quality of melodic and counter-melodic beauty. |
| thorn in the side of his more strictly harmonious | | | | While the piece is played mostly pianissimo, its |
| teachers. His love of experimentation, however, | | | | brief journeys into louder dynamic ranges present |
| proved to be his greatest musical asset. | | | | a need for a highly-developed knowledge of the |
| Early works by Debussy were heavily influenced | | | | keyboard. This, combined with the ability to |
| by both his love of Richard Wagner's operas and | | | | re-interpret the feel of the music according to |
| his general distaste for the operas of Italian | | | | one's own personality, makes Clair de Lune music |
| luminaries such as Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco | | | | that has stood the test of time. It is a piece that |
| Verdi, who was one of the reigning kings of the | | | | is constantly evolving, living and breathing in the |
| style. Though Wagner had been dead for several | | | | fingers of pianists the world over. |