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When was Claude Debussy born? Claude Debussy: biography, interesting facts, creativity

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Biography

Debussy to Impressionism

Debussy began to systematically study composition only in December 1880 with a professor, a member of the Academy of Fine Arts Ernest Guiraud. Six months before entering Guiro's class, Debussy traveled to Switzerland and Italy as a home pianist and music teacher in the family of a wealthy Russian philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck. Debussy spent the summer of 1881 and 1882 at all near Moscow, in her estate Pleshcheyevo. Communication with the von Meck family and stay in Russia had a beneficial effect on the development young musician. In her house, Debussy got acquainted with the new Russian music of Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Balakirev and composers close to them. In a number of letters from von Meck to Tchaikovsky, a certain “dear Frenchman” was sometimes mentioned, who speaks with admiration of his music and reads scores excellently. Together with von Meck, Debussy also visited Florence, Venice, Rome, Moscow and Vienna, where he first heard the musical drama Tristan and Isolde, which for a good ten years became the subject of his admiration and even worship. The young musician lost this equally pleasant and profitable job as a result of inopportunely revealed love for one of the many daughters of von Meck.

Returning to Paris, Debussy, in search of work, became an accompanist at Madame Moreau-Senty's vocal studio, where he met a wealthy amateur singer and music lover Madame Vanier. She significantly expanded his circle of acquaintances and introduced Claude Debussy into the circles of Parisian artistic bohemia. For Vanier, Debussy composed several exquisite romances, among which were such masterpieces as Mandolin and Mute.

At the same time, Debussy continued his studies at the conservatory, trying to achieve recognition and success also among his colleagues, academic musicians. In 1883, Debussy received a second Prix de Rome for his cantata Gladiator. Not resting on his laurels, he continued his efforts in this direction and a year later, in 1884, he received the Great Roman Prize for the cantata "The Prodigal Son" (fr. L'enfant prodigue). In an oddity as touching as it was unexpected, this was due to the personal intervention and benevolent support of Charles Gounod. Otherwise, Debussy certainly would not have received this cardboard professional crown of all academics from music - "this peculiar certificate of origin, enlightenment and authenticity of the first degree", as the Debussy Prize in Rome and his friend, Erik Satie, later jokingly called each other.

The Roman period did not become particularly fruitful for the composer, since neither Rome, nor Italian music turned out to be close to him, but here he got acquainted with the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites and began to compose a poem for voice with an orchestra "The Chosen One" (fr. La damoiselle élue) to words Gabriel Rossetti is the first work in which the features of his creative individuality. After serving the first few months at the Medici Villa, Debussy sent his first Roman message to Paris - the symphonic ode "Süleima" (according to Heine), and a year later - a two-part suite for orchestra and choir without words "Spring" (according to famous painting Botticelli), which caused the infamous official recall of the Academy:

“Undoubtedly, Debussy does not sin with flat turns and banality. On the contrary, it is distinguished by a clearly expressed desire to search for something strange and unusual. He exhibits an excessive sense of musical coloration which at times makes him forget the importance of clarity in design and form. He must especially beware of vague impressionism, such a dangerous enemy of truth in works of art.

This review is remarkable, first of all, by the fact that, for all the academic inertness of the content, it is essentially deeply innovative. This paper of 1886 went down in history as the first mention of "impressionism" in relation to music. It should be especially noted that at that time impressionism was fully formed as an artistic trend in painting, but in music (including Debussy himself) it not only did not exist, but was not even planned yet. Debussy was only at the beginning of the search for a new style, and the frightened academicians with their carefully cleaned tuning fork of their ears caught the future direction of his movement - and frightenedly warned him. Debussy himself, with rather caustic irony, spoke of his "Zuleyme": “she reminds me too much of either Verdi or Meyerbeer”...

However, the most important event This time was, perhaps, an unexpected acquaintance in 1891 with the pianist "Tavern in Cloux" (fr. Auberge du Clou) in Montmartre Eric Satie, who held the position of second pianist. At first, Debussy was attracted by the harmonically fresh and unusual improvisations of the café accompanist, and then by his free from any stereotypes judgments about music, originality of thinking, independent, rude character and caustic wit, not sparing any authorities at all. Also, Satie interested Debussy with his innovative piano and vocal compositions, written in a bold, though not entirely professional hand. The uneasy friendship-enmity of these two composers, who determined the face of the music of France at the beginning of the 20th century, continued for almost a quarter of a century. Thirty years later, Eric Satie described their meeting this way:

"When we first met,<…>he was like a blotter, thoroughly saturated with Mussorgsky and painstakingly sought his way, which he could not find and find in any way. Just in this matter, I far surpassed him: neither the Rome Prize ..., nor the “prizes” of any other cities of this world burdened my gait, and I did not have to drag them either on myself or on my back ...<…>At that moment I was writing "Son of the Stars" - on the text of Joseph Péladan; and many times explained to Debussy the need for us Frenchmen to finally free ourselves from the overwhelming influence of Wagner, which is completely inconsistent with our natural inclinations. But at the same time I made it clear to him that I was by no means an anti-Wagnerist. The only question was that we should have our own music - and, if possible, without German sauerkraut.
But why not use the same visual means for these purposes, which we have long seen in Claude Monet, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and others? Why not transfer these funds to music? There is nothing easier. Isn't that what real expressiveness is?

Throwing the composition of the opera "Rodrigue and Jimena" to the libretto (in the words of Sati) "that pitiful Wagnerist Katul Mendez", in 1893 Debussy began the long composition of an opera based on Maeterlinck's drama Pelléas et Melisande. And a year later, sincerely inspired by Mallarmé's eclogue, Debussy wrote the symphonic prelude The Afternoon of a Faun (fr. Prélude à l'Après midi d'un faune), which was destined to become a kind of manifesto of a new musical trend: impressionism in music.

Creation

Two series of Images (1905-1907) were followed by the suite Children's Corner (1906-1908), dedicated to the composer's daughter Shusha.

Debussy made several concert tours to provide for his family. He conducted his compositions in England, Italy, Russia and other countries. Two notebooks of preludes for pianoforte (1910-1913) demonstrate the evolution of a kind of sound-pictorial writing, characteristic of the composer's piano style. In 1911, he wrote music for the mystery Gabriele d'Annunzio The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, the score according to its markings was made by the French composer and conductor A. Caplet. In 1912 the orchestral cycle Obrazy appeared. Debussy had long been attracted to ballet, and in 1913 he composed the music for the ballet Game, which was shown by Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev's Russian Seasons in Paris and London. In the same year, the composer began work on the children's ballet "Toy Box" - its instrumentation was completed by Caplet after the death of the author. This stormy creative activity was temporarily suspended by the First World War, but already in 1915 numerous piano works appeared, including Twelve Etudes dedicated to the memory of Chopin. Debussy began a series of chamber sonatas, to a certain extent based on the style of French instrumental music of the 17th-18th centuries. He managed to complete three sonatas from this cycle: for cello and piano (1915), for flute, viola and harp (1915), for violin and piano (1917). Debussy received an order from Giulio Gatti-Casazza of the Metropolitan Opera for an opera based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, on which he began work as a young man. He still had the strength to remake the opera libretto.

Compositions

A complete catalog of Debussy's writings has been compiled by François Lesure (Geneva, 1977; new edition: 2001).

operas

Pelléas i Mélisande (1893-1895, 1898, 1900-1902)

ballets

Kamma (1910-1912)
Games (1912-1913)
Toy Box (1913)

Compositions for orchestra

Symphony (1880-1881)
Suite "Triumph of Bacchus" (1882)
Suite "Spring" for women's choir and orchestra (1887)
Fantasy for piano and orchestra (1889-1896)
Prelude "Afternoon of a Faun" (1891-1894). There is also an author's arrangement for two pianos, made in 1895.
"Nocturnes" - a program symphonic work, which includes 3 pieces: "Clouds", "Celebrations", "Sirens" (1897-1899)
Rhapsody for alto saxophone and orchestra (1901-1908)
"Sea", three symphonic sketches (1903-1905). There is also the author's arrangement for piano four hands, made in 1905.
Two Dances for harp and strings (1904). There is also an author's arrangement for two pianos, made in 1904.
"Images" (1905-1912)

Chamber music

Piano Trio (1880)
Nocturne and Scherzo for violin and piano (1882)
String Quartet (1893)
Rhapsody for clarinet and piano (1909-1910)
Siringa for flute solo (1913)
Sonata for cello and piano (1915)
Sonata for flute, harp and viola (1915)
Sonata for violin and piano (1916-1917)

Compositions for piano

A) for piano in 2 hands

"Gypsy Dance" (1880)
Two arabesques (circa 1890)
Mazurka (circa 1890)
"Dreams" (circa 1890)
"Suite Bergamas" (1890; revised 1905)
"Romantic Waltz" (circa 1890)
Nocturne (1892)
"Images", three plays (1894)
Waltz (1894; sheet music lost)
The play "For Piano" (1894-1901)
"Images", 1st series of plays (1901-1905)

I. Reflet dans l'eau // Reflections in the water
II. Hommage a Rameau // Hommage to Rameau
III.Movement // Movement

Suite "Prints" (1903)

Pagodas
Evening in Grenada
Gardens in the rain

"Island of Joy" (1903-1904)
"Masks" (1903-1904)
A play (1904; based on a sketch for the opera The Devil in the Bell Tower)
Suite "Children's Corner" (1906-1908)

Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum // Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum or Doctor Path to Parnassus. The title is related to famous cycle Clementi's etudes - systematic exercises to achieve the heights of performing skills.
Elephant's lullaby
Serenade to a doll
The snow is dancing
little shepherd
Puppet cake walk

"Images", 2nd series of plays (1907)

Cloches à travers les feuilles // Bell ringing through the foliage
Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut //Temple ruins by moonlight
Poissons d`or // Goldfish

"Hommage a Haydn" (1909)
Preludes. Notebook 1 (1910)

Danseuses de Delphes // Delphic dancers
Voiles // Sails
Le vent dans la plaine // Wind on the plain
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir // Sounds and scents float in the evening air
Les collines d'Anacapri // The hills of Anacapri
Des pas sur la neige // Footsteps in the snow
Ce qu'a vu le vent de l'ouest // What the west wind saw
La fille aux cheveux de lin // Girl with flaxen hair
La sérénade interrompue // Interrupted serenade
La cathédrale engloutie // Sunken Cathedral
La danse de Puck // Dance of the Puck
Minstrels // Minstrels

"More Than Slow (Waltz)" (1910)
Preludes. Notebook 2 (1911-1913)

Brouillards // Mists
Feuilles mortes // Dead leaves
La puerta del vino // Gate of the Alhambra [traditional translation]
Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses // Fairies are lovely dancers
Bruyères // Heather
General Levine - eccentric // General Levine (Lyavin) - eccentric
La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
Ondine // Ondine
Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. // Homage to S. Pickwick, Esq.
Canope // Canopy
Les tierces alternées // Alternating thirds
Feux d'artifice // Fireworks

"Heroic Lullaby" (1914)
Elegy (1915)
"Etudes", two books of plays (1915)

B) for piano 4 hands

Andante (1881; unpublished)
Divertissement (1884)
"Little Suite" (1886-1889)
"Six Antique Epigraphs" (1914). There is an author's adaptation of the last of the six pieces for piano in 2 hands, made in 1914.

C) for 2 pianos

"Black and White", three pieces (1915)

Processing of other people's works

Two hymnopedias (1st and 3rd) by E. Satie for orchestra (1896)
Three dances from P. Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" for piano 4 hands (1880)
"Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" by C. Saint-Saens for 2 pianos (1889)
Second Symphony by C. Saint-Saens for 2 pianos (1890)
Overture to the opera by R. Wagner " Flying Dutchman» for 2 pianos (1890)
"Six etudes in the form of a canon" by R. Schumann for 2 pianos (1891)

Sketches, lost works, designs

Opera "Rodrigo and Ximena" (1890-1893; not completed). Remodeled by Richard Langham Smith and Edison Denisov (1993)
Opera "The Devil in the Bell Tower" (1902-1912?; sketches). Remodeled by Robert Orledge (premiered in 2012)
Opera The Fall of the House of Usher (1908-1917; not completed). There are several reconstructions, including those by Juan Allende-Blin (1977), Robert Orledge (2004)
Opera Crimes of Love (Gallant Festivities) (1913-1915; sketches)
Opera "Salambo" (1886)
Music for the play "The Weddings of Satan" (1892)
Opera "Oedipus at Colon" (1894)
Three nocturnes for violin and orchestra (1894-1896)
Ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1895-1897)
Ballet "Aphrodite" (1896-1897)
Ballet "Orpheus" (circa 1900)
Opera As You Like It (1902-1904)
Lyrical tragedy "Dionysus" (1904)
Opera "The Story of Tristan" (1907-1909)
Opera "Siddhartha" (1907-1910)
Opera "Oresteia" (1909)
Ballet "Masks and Bergamasks" (1910)
Sonata for oboe, horn and harpsichord (1915)
Sonata for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano (1915)

Soviet Encyclopedia

Kremlev Yu. Claude Debussy, M., 1965
Sabinina M. Debussy, in the book Music of the 20th century, part I, book. 2, M., 1977
Yarotsinskiy S. Debussy, Impressionism and Symbolism, per. from Polish., M., 1978
Debussy and the music of the 20th century Sat. Art., L., 1983
Denisov E. On some features of the compositional technique of C. Debussy, in his book: Modern music and problems of evolution of the comp. technology, M., 1986
Barraque J. Claude Debussy, R., 1962
Golaa A.S. Debussy, I'homme et son oeuvre, P., 1965
Golaa A.S. Claude Debussy. Liste complete des oeuvres…, P.-Gen., 1983
Lockspeiser E. Debussy, L.-, 1980.
Hendrik Lucke: Mallarmé - Debussy. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Kunstanschauung am Beispiel von "L'Après-midi d'un Faune".(= Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, Bd. 4). Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-8300-1685-9 .
Denisov E. On some features of Claude Debussy's compositional technique// Modern music and problems of the evolution of composer technique. - M.: Soviet composer, 1986.

(1918-03-25 ) (55 years) A country

Achille-Claude Debussy(fr. Achille-Claude Debussy ; August 22, Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris - March 25, Paris listen)) is a French composer and music critic.

Composed in a style often referred to as impressionism, a term he never liked. Debussy was not only one of the most important French composers, but also one of the most significant figures in music in the world. turn of XIX and XX centuries; his music represents a transitional form from late romantic music to modernism in the music of the 20th century.

Biography

He was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris in a family of modest means - his father was a former marine, then a co-owner of a faience shop. The first piano lessons were given to a gifted child by Antoinette Flora Mote (mother-in-law of the poet Verlaine).

In 1873, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatory, where for 11 years he studied with A. Marmontel (piano) and with A. Lavignac, E. Duran and O. Basil (music theory). Around 1876, he composed his first romances to poems by T. de Banville and P. Bourget. From 1879 to 1882 held summer holidays as a "home pianist" - first in the castle of Chenonceau, and then with Nadezhda von Meck - in her houses and estates in Switzerland, Italy, Vienna and Russia.

During these travels, new musical horizons opened before him, and acquaintance with the works of Russian composers of the St. Petersburg school turned out to be especially important. In love with the poetry of De Banville (1823-1891) and Verlaine, the young Debussy, endowed with a restless mind and prone to experiments (mainly in the field of harmony), enjoyed a reputation as a revolutionary. This, however, did not prevent him from receiving the Prix de Rome in 1884 for the cantata The Prodigal Son (L "Enfant prodigue").

Debussy spent two years in Rome. There he became acquainted with the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites and began to compose a poem for voice and orchestra, The Chosen One, based on the text by G. Rossetti (La Demoiselle lue). He took deep impressions from visits to Bayreuth, Wagnerian influence was reflected in his vocal cycle Five Baudelaire Poems (Cinq Pomes de Baudelaire). Among other hobbies young composer- exotic orchestras, Javanese and Annamite, which he heard at the Paris World Exhibition in 1889; the writings of Mussorgsky, which at that time were gradually penetrating France; melodic ornamentation of Gregorian chant.

In 1890, Debussy began work on the opera Rodrigue and Chimène (Rodrigue et Chimène) based on a libretto by C. Mendez, but two years later he left the work unfinished (for a long time the manuscript was considered lost, then it was found; the work was instrumented by the Russian composer E. Denisov and staged in several theaters). At about the same time, the composer became a regular visitor to the circle of the symbolist poet S. Mallarme and for the first time read Edgar Allan Poe, who became Debussy's favorite author. In 1893, he began composing an opera based on Maeterlinck's drama Pelléas and Melisande (Pellas et Mlisande), and a year later, inspired by Mallarmé's eclogue, he completed the symphonic prelude The Afternoon of a Faun (Prlude l "Aprs-midi d" un faune).

Debussy was familiar with the main figures of literature of this period from his youth, among his friends were the writers P. Louis, A. Gide and the Swiss linguist R. Godet. His attention was attracted by impressionism in painting. The first concert devoted entirely to the music of Debussy was held in 1894 in Brussels in art gallery"Free aesthetics" - against the backdrop of new paintings by Renoir, Pissarro, Gauguin and others. In the same year, work began on three nocturnes for orchestra, which were originally conceived as a violin concerto for the famous virtuoso E.Izai. The first of the nocturnes (Clouds) was compared by the author with "a picturesque sketch in gray tones".

By the end of the 19th century Debussy's work, which was considered analogues of impressionism in fine arts and symbolism in poetry, embraced even more wide circle poetic and visual associations. Among the works of this period - string Quartet in G minor (1893), which reflected the fascination with oriental modes, the vocal cycle Proses Lyriques (Proses Lyriques, 1892-1893) on their own texts, Songs of Bilitis (Chansons de Bilitis) based on the poems of P. Louis, inspired by the pagan idealism of Ancient Greece, as well as Ivniak (La Saulaie), unfinished cycle for baritone and orchestra on verses by Rossetti.

In 1899, shortly after his marriage to fashion model Rosalie Texier, Debussy lost the small income he had: his publisher J. Artmann died. Burdened with debts, he nevertheless found the strength to complete the Nocturnes in the same year, and in 1902 the second edition of the five-act opera Pelléas et Melisande. Staged at the Paris Comic Opera on April 30, 1902, Pelléas made a splash. This work, remarkable in many respects (deep poetry is combined in it with psychological refinement, the instrumentation and interpretation of the vocal parts is striking in its novelty), was assessed as the greatest achievement in opera genre after Wagner. Next year brought the cycle of Estampes (Estampes) - it is already developing a style characteristic of Debussy's piano work. In 1904, Debussy entered into a new family union - with Emma Bardak, which almost led to the suicide of Rosalie Texier and caused ruthless publicity of some of the circumstances of the composer's personal life. However, this did not prevent the completion of Debussy's best orchestral work - three symphonic sketches of the Sea (La Mer; first performed in 1905), as well as wonderful vocal cycles - Three Songs of France (Trois chansons de France, 1904) and the second notebook of Gallant Festivities based on Verlaine's verses (Les fêtes galantes, 1904).

Throughout the rest of his life, Debussy had to struggle with illness and poverty, but he worked tirelessly and very fruitfully. Since 1901, he began to appear in the periodical press with witty reviews of the events of current musical life (after Debussy's death, they were collected in the collection Monsieur Croche - antidilettante, Monsieur Croche - antidilettante, published in 1921). During the same period, most of his piano works appear. Two series of Images (Images, 1905-1907) were followed by the Children's Corner suite (Children's Corner, 1906-1908), dedicated to Shush, the composer's daughter (she was born in 1905, but Debussy could only formalize her marriage to Emma Bardak for three years later).

Although the first signs of cancer appeared already in 1909, in the following years Debussy made several trips with concerts in order to provide for his family. He conducted own compositions in England, in Italy, in Russia and other countries. Two notebooks of piano preludes (1910-1913) demonstrate the evolution of a kind of "sound-pictorial" writing, characteristic of the composer's piano style. In 1911, he wrote music for the mystery G. d "Annunzio The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (Le Martyre de Saint Sbastien), the score was made by the French composer and conductor A. Caplet. In 1912, the orchestral cycle Images appeared. Debussy had long attracted ballet, and in 1913 he composed the music for the ballet The Game (Jeux), which was performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons in Paris and London.

In the same year, the composer began work on the children's ballet The Toy Box (La Boîte à joujoux) - its instrumentation was completed by Caplet after the death of the author. This stormy creative activity was temporarily suspended by the First World War, but already in 1915 numerous piano works appeared, including Twelve Etudes (Douze tudes), dedicated to the memory of Chopin. Debussy began a series of chamber sonatas, based to a certain extent on the style of French instrumental music of the 17th and 18th centuries. He managed to complete three sonatas from this cycle: for cello and piano (1915), for flute, viola and harp (1915), for violin and piano (1917). He still had the strength to remake the opera libretto based on the story by E. Poe The Fall of the House of Eschers - the plot had long attracted Debussy, and even in his youth he began work on this opera; now he has received an order for it from J. Gatti-Casazza from the Metropolitan Opera. The composer died in Paris on March 26, 1918.

Letters

Monsieur Croche - antidillettante, P., 1921; Articles, reviews, conversations, trans. from French, M.-L., 1964; Fav. letters, L., 1986.

Creation

Compositions

operas:
- Rodrigo and Jimena (1892, unfinished)
- Pelléas and Mélisande (1902, Paris)
- The Fall of the House of Escher (in outline, 1908-17)
ballets:
- Kamma (1912, finalized in 1924, ibid.)
- Games (1913, Paris)
- Box with toys (children, 1913, post. 1919, Paris)
Cantatas:
- lyric scenes The Prodigal Son (1884)
- Ode to France (1917, completed by M. F. Gaillard)
Poem for voices and orchestra, The Chosen Virgin (1888)
For orchestra:
- divertissement Triumph of Bacchus (1882)
- symphonic suite Spring (1887)
- Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (1894)
Nocturnes (Clouds, Celebrations; Sirens - with women's choir; 1899)
3 symphonic sketches of the Sea (1905)
Images (Gigi, Iberia, Spring round dances, 1912)
Chamber instrumental ensembles - sonatas for cello and piano (1915), for violin and piano (1917), for flute, viola and harp (1915), piano trio (1880), string quartet (1893)
For piano - Bergamas Suite (1890), Prints (1903), Island of Joy (1904), Masks (1904), Images (1st series - 1905, 2nd - 1907), suite Children's Corner (1908), preludes ( 1st notebook - 1910, 2nd - 1913), sketches (1915)
Songs and romances
Music for drama theater performances, piano transcriptions, etc.

Sources

Literature

Alshwang A. Claude Debussy, M., 1935;
Alshwang A. Works by Claude Debussy and M. Ravel, M., 1963
Rosenchild K. Young Debussy and his contemporaries, M., 1963
Martynov I. Claude Debussy, M., 1964
Medvedeva I. A. Musical encyclopedic Dictionary , Moscow. 1991
Kremlev Yu. Claude Debussy, M., 1965
Sabinina M. Debussy, in the book Music of the 20th century, part I, book. 2, M., 1977
Yarotsinskiy S. Debussy, Impressionism and Symbolism, per. from Polish., M., 1978
Debussy and the music of the 20th century Sat. Art., L., 1983
Denisov E. On some features of the compositional technique of C. Debussy, in his book: Modern music and problems of evolution of the comp. technology, M., 1986
Barraque J. Claude Debussy, R., 1962
Golaa A.S. Debussy, I'homme et son oeuvre, P., 1965
Golaa A.S. Claude Debussy. Liste complete des oeuvres…, P.-Gen., 1983
Lockspeiser E. Debussy, L.-, 1980.
Hendrik Lucke: Mallarmé - Debussy. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Kunstanschauung am Beispiel von "L'Après-midi d'un Faune".(= Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, Bd. 4). Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-8300-1685-9.
Jean Barraque, Debussy(Solfèges), Editions du Seuil, 1977. ISBN 2-02-000242-6
roy howat, Debussy in Proportion: A musical analysis, Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-521-31145-4
Rudolph Reti, Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality: A study of some trends in twentieth century music. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1958. ISBN 0-313-20478-0.
Jane Fulcher (Editor) Debussy and His World(The Bard Music Festival), Princeton University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-691-09042-4
Simon Trezise (Editor), The Cambridge Companion to Debussy, Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-65478-5

Links

Debussy: Sheet Music at the International Music Score Library Project

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

See what "Debussy" is in other dictionaries:

Debussy K. A.- DEBUSSY (Debussy) Claude Achille (22.8.1862, Saint Germain en Les, near Paris, 25.3.1918, Paris), French. composer. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory in the composition class of E. Guiraud and the pianoforte of A. Marmontel (1884). He has performed as a pianist and conductor with... Ballet. Encyclopedia

DEBUSSY, France, Telfrance, 1994, 90 min. Biopic. Cast: Francois Marsore, Pascal Rocard, Teresa Lyotard, Mars Berman. Director: James Jones. Screenwriter: Eric Emmanuel Schmidt. Operator: Valery Martynov (see MARTYNOV Valery ... ... Cinema Encyclopedia

Claude Debussy (fr. Achille-Claude Debussy, 1862-1918) is a famous French composer, one of the brightest representatives of impressionism. His works are notable for their extraordinary musical elegance, poetry, refinement of musical images.

Debussy is often called the father of 20th-century music for his ability to convey the sound of each chord and key in a new way. Debussy's musical talent was so wide that it allowed him to prove himself as an excellent performer, conductor and music critic.

Early biography

Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in the small town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye into a poor bourgeois family. His father was in the military in his youth and served in the Marine Corps, and later became involved in the faience business. But, having experienced failure in this field, he sold his store and moved his relatives to Paris. There were no descendants in the family musical traditions Nevertheless, Claude from childhood began to demonstrate great musical abilities. His first teacher was his mother-in-law famous poet P. Verlaine Antoinette-Flora Mote, who called herself a student of Chopin.

Under her guidance, the boy showed incredible success and at the age of 11 was enrolled in the Paris Conservatory. Here young talent studied with the luminaries of the French music scene A. F. Marmontel, A. Lavignac and E. Guiraud. Claude studied very diligently and diligently, but he did not stand out in particular. As a student, Debussy worked for several years at summer season at the pianist N. Von Meck, and also taught music to her children. Thanks to this, he visited Russia and even imbued with an arrangement for the works of the composers of the Mighty Handful.

First takeoff

By the end of a long 11-year study, Claude presented his thesis- Cantata "Prodigal Son", written on a biblical story. He was later awarded the Great Roman Prize for her. Its creation was inspired by the author's personal appeal to God. After the performance of the work within the walls of the conservatory, Ch. Geno called the 22-year-old Claude a genius. Debussy spent the next few years as a prize winner in Italy at the Villa Medici. According to the terms of the contract, he was supposed to musical creativity, but the composer was constantly tormented by deep internal contradictions. Being under the hood of academic traditions, Claude sought to find his musical language and style. This caused numerous conflicts and even disputes with teachers.

As a result italian period did not become the most memorable in Debussy's work, although it was here that he began working on a poem for voice and orchestra, The Chosen One. In this work, the first features of the composer's own musical style appeared. In the future, the creative development of Debussy was greatly influenced by the Wagner celebrations he attended and the Paris World Exhibition, where he got acquainted with the sound of the Javanese gamelan and was strongly impressed by the works of M. Mussorgsky. In addition, Claude became interested in the work of the French symbolist poet S. Malarme and often visited his circles. Being in this environment and communicating with many poets, Debussy took their poems as the basis of a number of his works - Belgian Landscapes, Moonlight, Mandolin, Five Poems and others.

Time for musical experiments

In 1890, the composer undertook to write the opera "Rodrigue and Jimena", but he could not complete it. The main reason is that he often ran out of inspiration, and he could not find the strength in himself to return to what he started. In 1894, Claude wrote his most famous work, The Afternoon of a Faun. This prelude for large orchestra created on the basis of a poem by S. Malarme, written based on a mythological plot. After some time, this music inspired S. Diaghilev to stage a ballet, choreographed by V. Nezhinsky himself. Having not yet completed the previous work, Debussy set about writing three "Nocturnes" for symphony orchestra. They were first performed in December 1900 in Paris. True, then only two parts of "Cloud" and "Celebration" were performed, and the third "Nocturne" called "Sirens" was presented only a year later.

The author himself explained that "Clouds" personified the image of a fixed sky with slowly floating clouds. "Celebrations" showed the dancing rhythm of the atmosphere, accompanied by flashes of bright light, and in "Sirens" the image of the sea is presented, where in the midst of moonlit waves, the mysterious singing of sirens is filled with laughter and disappears. In this work, the author's desire to embody life-real images in music was clearly manifested. “Music is just the art that is closest to nature,” Debussy argued.

In the 90s of the 19th century, the composer created the only completed opera, Pellas et Mélisande. It was shown in Paris in 1902 and had a good success with the public, although critics expressed rather negative assessments. The author managed to achieve a successful combination of the psychological refinement of music with inspired poetry, which made it possible to set a new mood for musical expression. In 1903, the musical cycle "Prints" appeared, in which the author tried to synthesize the musical styles of various cultures of the world.

The period of higher creative upsurge

The beginning of the 20th century was the most fruitful time in Debussy's work. He gradually leaves the captivity of symbolism and goes into the genre of everyday scenes and musical portraits. In 1903-1905, Claude wrote the largest of his symphonic works - "The Sea". He decided to write this work based on deep personal impressions received from observing the huge water element. In addition, he was again influenced by the Impressionist painters and the Japanese master of woodcut landscapes Hokusai. “The sea treated me well,” Debussy once said.

The large-scale essay consists of three parts. The first "From Dawn Till Noon at Sea" begins slowly, but then they begin to call to each other wooden tools, and the movement of sea waves appears. Further, in the "Play of the Waves" the iridescent mood is preserved, emphasized by orchestral effects and ringing bells. In the third part of the Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea, the sea is shown in a completely different way - stormy and formidable, its appearance is complemented by dramatic images that indicate a gloomy and disturbing mood.

The name Debussy is inseparable from piano music. He not only composed beautifully, but was also a brilliant pianist and even acted as a conductor. The famous pianist M. Long compared Claude's playing with the manner of F. Chopin, in which the smoothness of the performance was guessed, as well as the fullness and density of the sound. Often it was in this lightness that he sought inspiration, being in a long coloristic search.

The composer also tried to find a strong connection with national musical origins. This was confirmed by a series of piano works "Gardens in the Rain", "Evening in Granada", "Island of Joy".

The beginning of the last century was marked by the search for new non-traditional means musical expressiveness. Many authors were convinced that classical and romantic forms had exhausted themselves. In an attempt to discover new means, composers began increasingly to turn to the origins of non-European music. Among the genres that attracted close attention Debussy turned out to be jazz. It was with his submission that this musical direction became very popular in the Old World.

Late creative period

Despite the beginning serious illness, this time was remembered by the most active composing and performing activities of Debussy. He participates in concert trips around Europe and Russia, where he was received with great honors and scope. Claude personally met with a number of Russian musicians, which is why he began to experience even greater reverence for Russian music.

The author revisits piano creativity. In 1908 he completed the Children's Corner suite, which he dedicated to his own daughter. In this work, Claude tried to use music to represent the world through the eyes of a child, using recognizable images - a toy elephant, a doll, a little shepherd. In 1910 and 1913, prelude notebooks were created, where the figurative world of Debussy is fully revealed to the listener. In "Delphian Dancers" Claude managed to find a unique combination of the severity of the ancient temple and ritual pagan sensuality, and in the "Sunken Cathedral" the motifs of an old legend clearly echo.

In 1913, Debussy succeeded in expressing his love for the art of ballet. He wrote the music for the ballet "Games", which the troupe of S. Diaghilev presented in London and Paris. During the First World War, the author's creative activity began to decline, he was embraced by deep patriotic feelings. He set himself the task of glorifying beauty in defiance of the massive destruction of the war. This theme can be traced in a number of works - "Ode to France", "Heroic Lullaby", "Christmas of Homeless Children". In 1915, he decided to create Twelve Etudes in memory of F. Chopin, but he failed to complete them.

Claude was extremely depressed by everything that was happening in the country. The horror of war, blood and destruction caused deep spiritual anxiety. The serious illness that struck the composer in 1915 strengthened the difficult perception of reality. However, before their last days Debussy was faithful to music and did not stop creative searches. The composer died in Paris on March 26, 1918 during the bombardment of the city by German troops.

Personal life

Famous french musician led an active personal life, but was married only twice. His first wife was Lily Tesquier, whom he married in 1899. Their union lasted only five years. Debussy's new passion will be the seductive Madame Bardac, with whose son Claude studied composition. Some time later, the couple had a daughter, Emme.

Biography

Achille Claude Debussy is a French composer. Leading exponent of musical impressionism.

Debussy to Impressionism

Born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (a suburb of Paris) in the family of a small merchant - the owner of a small crockery faience shop. When Claude was two years old, his father sold his shop, and the whole family moved to Paris, where Debussy Sr. got a job as an accountant in a private firm. Almost all of Claude Debussy's childhood passed in Paris, except for the time of the Franco-Prussian War, when the mother of the future composer went with him to Cannes, away from hostilities. It was in Cannes that the young Claude began taking his first piano lessons in 1870; upon returning to Paris, classes continued under the guidance of Antoinette Mote de Fleurville, the mother-in-law of the poet Paul Verlaine, who also called herself a student of Frederic Chopin.

In 1872, at the age of ten, Claude entered the Paris Conservatoire. In the piano class, he studied with the famous pianist and teacher Antoine Marmontel, in the elementary solfeggio class with the eminent traditionalist Albert Lavignac, and Cesar Franck himself taught him the organ. Debussy studied quite successfully at the conservatory, although as a student he did not shine with anything special. Only in 1877 did the professors appreciate Debussy's piano talent, awarding him a second prize for the performance of Schumann's sonata. Staying in the harmony and accompaniment class of Emile Duran led to an open conflict between the student and the teacher. Faithful to the school textbook of harmony, Duran could not come to terms with even the most modest experiments of his student. Not forgetting his skirmishes with the teacher, many years later Debussy wrote about this episode of his training: "Harmony, as it is taught at the conservatory, is a pompously funny way of sorting sounds."

Debussy began to systematically study composition only in December 1880 with Professor Ernest Guiraud, a member of the Academy of Fine Arts. Six months before entering Guiro's class, Debussy traveled to Switzerland and Italy as a home pianist and music teacher in the family of a wealthy Russian philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck. Debussy spent the summers of 1881 and 1882 near Moscow, on her estate Pleshcheyevo. Communication with the von Meck family and stay in Russia had a beneficial effect on the development of the young musician. In her house, Debussy got acquainted with the new Russian music of Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Balakirev and composers close to them. In a number of letters from von Meck to Tchaikovsky, a certain “dear Frenchman” was sometimes mentioned, who speaks with admiration of his music and reads scores excellently. Together with von Meck, Debussy also visited Florence, Venice, Rome, Moscow and Vienna, where he first heard the musical drama Tristan and Isolde, which for a good ten years became the subject of his admiration and even worship. The young musician lost this equally pleasant and profitable job as a result of inopportunely revealed love for one of the many daughters of von Meck.

Returning to Paris, Debussy, in search of work, became an accompanist at Madame Moreau-Senty's vocal studio, where he met a wealthy amateur singer and music lover Madame Vanier. She significantly expanded the circle of his acquaintances and introduced Claude Debussy into the circles of Parisian artistic bohemia. For Vanier, Debussy composed several exquisite romances, among which were such masterpieces as Mandolin and Mute.

At the same time, Debussy continued his studies at the conservatory, trying to achieve recognition and success also among his colleagues, academic musicians. In 1883, Debussy received a second Prix de Rome for his cantata Gladiator. Not resting on his laurels, he continued his efforts in this direction and a year later, in 1884, he received the Great Roman Prize for the cantata "The Prodigal Son" (French L'Enfant prodigue). In an oddity as touching as it was unexpected, this was due to the personal intervention and benevolent support of Charles Gounod. Otherwise, Debussy would certainly not have received this cardboard professional crown of all academics from music - "this kind of certificate of origin, enlightenment and authenticity of the first degree," as Debussy and his friend Eric Satie later jokingly called the Rome Prize among themselves.

In 1885, with extreme reluctance and two months late (which was a serious violation), Debussy nevertheless went to Rome on public account, where he was supposed to live and work for two years in the Villa Medici along with other prize winners. It was in such rigid duality and internal contradictions that the whole early period Debussy's life. At the same time, he resists the conservative Academy, and wants to be included in its ranks, stubbornly seeks the award, but then does not want to work it out and "justify". Moreover, for the dubious honor of being encouraged as an exemplary student, I had to restrain myself in every possible way and reckon with academic requirements. So, unlike the romances for Madame Vanier, the works of Debussy, awarded the Rome Prizes, in general, did not go beyond the limits of permitted traditionalism. And yet, all these years, Debussy was deeply concerned with the search for his original style and language. These experiments of the young musician inevitably came into conflict with academic scholasticism. More than once, sharp conflicts arose between Debussy and some professors of the conservatory, which were complicated by the quick-tempered and vindictive nature of the young composer.

The Roman period did not become particularly fruitful for the composer, since neither Rome nor Italian music turned out to be close to him, but here he got acquainted with the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites and began to compose a poem for voice with an orchestra "The Chosen One" (French La damoiselle élue) into words Gabriel Rossetti is the first work in which the features of his creative individuality were outlined. After serving the first few months at the Medici Villa, Debussy sent his first Roman message to Paris - the symphonic ode "Zuleima" (according to Heine), and a year later - a two-part suite for orchestra and choir without words "Spring" (based on the famous painting by Botticelli), causing the Academy's infamous official recall:

“Undoubtedly, Debussy does not sin with flat turns and banality. On the contrary, it is distinguished by a clearly expressed desire to search for something strange and unusual. He exhibits an excessive sense of musical coloration, which at times makes him forget the importance of clarity in design and form. He must especially beware of vague impressionism, such a dangerous enemy of truth in works of art.

- (Leon Vallas, “Claude Debussy”, Paris, 1926, p.37.)

This review is remarkable, first of all, by the fact that, for all the academic inertness of the content, it is essentially deeply innovative. This paper of 1886 went down in history as the first mention of "impressionism" in relation to music. It should be especially noted that at that time impressionism was fully formed as an artistic trend in painting, but in music (including Debussy himself) it not only did not exist, but was not even planned yet. Debussy was only at the beginning of the search for a new style, and the frightened academicians with their carefully cleaned tuning fork of their ears caught the future direction of his movement - and frightenedly warned him. Debussy himself, with rather caustic irony, spoke of his "Süleima": "it is too much like either Verdi or Meyerbeer" ...

However, the cantata "The Chosen One" and the suite "Spring", written in the Villa Medici, no longer aroused such strong self-irony in him. And when the Academy, having accepted “Virgin” for performance in one of its concerts, rejected “Spring”, the composer presented a sharp ultimatum and a scandal ensued, which resulted in the refusal to participate in the concert and Debussy’s complete break with the Academy.

After Rome, Debussy visited Bayreuth and again experienced the strongest influence of Richard Wagner. Perhaps one of the most Wagnerian works is the vocal cycle "Five Poems of Baudelaire" (French Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire). However, not satisfied with Wagner alone, all these years Debussy has been actively interested in everything new and is looking for his own style everywhere. Even earlier, a visit to Russia led to a passion for Mussorgsky's work. After the World Exhibition held in Paris in 1889, Debussy turns his attention to exotic orchestras, especially Javanese and Annamite. However, the final formation of the composer's style occurs with him only three years later.

Trying to make a major composer application, in 1890 Debussy began work on the opera Rodrigue et Chimène (Fr. Rodrigue et Chimène) based on a libretto by Katul Mendes. However, this work did not give him any self-confidence and two years later was abandoned unfinished.

In the late 1880s, Debussy became closer to Ernest Chausson, an amateur composer, secretary of the National Council of Music and just a very rich man, on whose help and support he counted. Celebrities such as the composers Henri Duparc, Gabriel Fauré and Isaac Albéniz, the violinist Eugene Ysaye, the singer Pauline Viardot, the pianist Alfred Cortot-Denis, the writer Ivan Turgenev and the painter Claude Monet visited the Chausson's brilliant artistic salon weekly. It was there that Debussy met the Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé and became first a regular visitor to his poetic circle, and then a close friend. At the same time, Debussy first read the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, who until the end of his life became Debussy's favorite writer.

However, the most important event of this time was, perhaps, an unexpected acquaintance in 1891 with the pianist "Tavern in Cloux" (French Auberge du Clou) in Montmartre, Eric Satie, who served as second pianist. At first, Debussy was attracted by the harmonically fresh and unusual improvisations of the cafeteria accompanist, and then by his free from any stereotypes judgments about music, originality of thinking, independent, rude character and caustic wit, which does not spare any authorities at all. Also, Satie interested Debussy with his innovative piano and vocal compositions, written in a bold, though not entirely professional hand. The uneasy friendship-enmity of these two composers, who determined the face of the music of France at the beginning of the 20th century, continued for almost a quarter of a century. Thirty years later, Eric Satie described their meeting this way:

“When we first met, he was like a blotter, thoroughly saturated with Mussorgsky and painstakingly looking for his path, which he could not find and find in any way. Just in this matter, I far outdid him: neither the Rome Prize ... nor the “prizes” of any other cities of this world burdened my gait, and I did not have to drag them either on myself or on my back ... At that moment I wrote "Son of the Stars" - on the text of Joseph Peladan; and many times explained to Debussy the need for us Frenchmen to finally free ourselves from the overwhelming influence of Wagner, which is completely inconsistent with our natural inclinations. But at the same time I made it clear to him that I was by no means an anti-Wagnerist. The only question was that we should have our own music - and, if possible, without German sauerkraut.

But why not use the same visual means for these purposes, which we have long seen in Claude Monet, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and others? Why not transfer these funds to music? There is nothing easier. Isn't that what real expressiveness is?

- (Eric Satie, from the article "Claude Debussy", August 1922.)

Back in 1886-1887, Satie published his first impressionistic opuses (for piano and voice with piano). Undoubtedly, communication with this independent and free person, who is outside of all groups and academies, significantly accelerated the formation of the final (mature) style of Debussy. Debussy's overcoming of Wagner's influence also had an unusually sharp and stormy character. And if until 1891 his admiration for Wagner (by his own admission) “reached the point where you forget about the rules of decency”, then after only two years Debussy agreed to a complete denial of any significance of Wagner for art: “Wagner never served music, he didn't even serve Germany!" Many of his close friends (including Chausson and Émile Vuyermeau) were unable to understand and accept this sudden change, which led to a cooling of personal relationships as well.

Having abandoned the composition of the opera "Rodrigues and Jimena" to the libretto (in the words of Satie) "that pathetic Wagnerist Katul Mendes", in 1893 Debussy began the long composition of the opera based on Maeterlinck's drama "Pelléas et Melisande". And a year later, sincerely inspired by Mallarmé's eclogue, Debussy wrote the symphonic prelude The Afternoon of a Faun (Fr. Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune), which was destined to become a kind of manifesto of a new musical trend: impressionism in music.

Creation

Two series of Images (1905-1907) were followed by the suite Children's Corner (1906-1908), dedicated to the composer's daughter Shusha.

Debussy made several concert tours to provide for his family. He conducted his compositions in England, Italy, Russia and other countries. Two notebooks of preludes for pianoforte (1910-1913) demonstrate the evolution of a kind of sound-pictorial writing, characteristic of the composer's piano style. In 1911, he wrote music for Gabriele d'Annunzio's mystery The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, the score was made by the French composer and conductor A. Caplet. In 1912 the orchestral cycle Obrazy appeared. Debussy had long been attracted to ballet, and in 1913 he composed the music for the ballet Game, which was performed by Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev's Russian Seasons troupe in Paris and London. In the same year, the composer began work on the children's ballet "Toy Box" - its instrumentation was completed by Caplet after the death of the author. This stormy creative activity was temporarily suspended by the First World War, but already in 1915 numerous piano works appeared, including Twelve Etudes dedicated to the memory of Chopin. Debussy began a series of chamber sonatas, to a certain extent based on the style of French instrumental music of the 17th-18th centuries. He managed to complete three sonatas from this cycle: for cello and piano (1915), for flute, viola and harp (1915), for violin and piano (1917). Debussy received an order from Giulio Gatti-Casazza of the Metropolitan Opera for an opera based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, on which he began work as a young man. He still had the strength to remake the opera libretto.

Compositions

A complete catalog of Debussy's writings has been compiled by François Lesure (Geneva, 1977; new edition: 2001).

operas

Pelléas and Mélisande (1893-1895, 1898, 1900-1902)

ballets

Kamma (1910-1912)
Games (1912-1913)
Toy Box (1913)

Compositions for orchestra

Symphony (1880-1881)
Suite "Triumph of Bacchus" (1882)
Suite "Spring" for women's choir and orchestra (1887)
Fantasy for piano and orchestra (1889-1896)
Prelude "Afternoon of a Faun" (1891-1894). There is also an author's arrangement for two pianos, made in 1895.
"Nocturnes" - a program symphonic work, which includes 3 pieces: "Clouds", "Celebrations", "Sirens" (1897-1899)
Rhapsody for alto saxophone and orchestra (1901-1908)
"Sea", three symphonic sketches (1903-1905). There is also the author's arrangement for piano four hands, made in 1905.
Two Dances for harp and strings (1904). There is also an author's arrangement for two pianos, made in 1904.
"Images" (1905-1912)

Chamber music

Piano Trio (1880)
Nocturne and Scherzo for violin and piano (1882)
String Quartet (1893)
Rhapsody for clarinet and piano (1909-1910)
Siringa for flute solo (1913)
Sonata for cello and piano (1915)
Sonata for flute, harp and viola (1915)
Sonata for violin and piano (1916-1917)

Compositions for piano

A) for piano in 2 hands
"Gypsy Dance" (1880)
Two arabesques (circa 1890)
Mazurka (circa 1890)
"Dreams" (circa 1890)
"Suite Bergamas" (1890; revised 1905)
"Romantic Waltz" (circa 1890)
Nocturne (1892)
"Images", three plays (1894)
Waltz (1894; sheet music lost)
The play "For Piano" (1894-1901)
"Images", 1st series of plays (1901-1905)
I. Reflet dans l'eau // Reflections in the water
II. Hommage a Rameau // Hommage to Rameau
III.Movement // Movement
Suite "Prints" (1903)
Pagodas
Evening in Grenada
Gardens in the rain
"Island of Joy" (1903-1904)
"Masks" (1903-1904)
A play (1904; based on a sketch for the opera The Devil in the Bell Tower)
Suite "Children's Corner" (1906-1908)

Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum // Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum or Doctor Path to Parnassus. The title is associated with the famous cycle of studies by Clementi - systematic exercises to achieve the heights of performing skills.

Elephant's lullaby
Serenade to a doll
The snow is dancing
little shepherd
Puppet cake walk
"Images", 2nd series of plays (1907)
Cloches à travers les feuilles // Bell ringing through the foliage
Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut //Temple ruins by moonlight
Poissons d`or // Goldfish
"Hommage a Haydn" (1909)
Preludes. Notebook 1 (1910)
Danseuses de Delphes // Delphic dancers
Voiles // Sails
Le vent dans la plaine // Wind on the plain
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir // Sounds and scents float in the evening air
Les collines d'Anacapri // The hills of Anacapri
Des pas sur la neige // Footsteps in the snow
Ce qu'a vu le vent de l'ouest // What the west wind saw
La fille aux cheveux de lin // Girl with flaxen hair
La sérénade interrompue // Interrupted serenade
La cathédrale engloutie // Sunken Cathedral
La danse de Puck // Dance of the Puck
Minstrels // Minstrels
"More Than Slow (Waltz)" (1910)
Preludes. Notebook 2 (1911-1913)
Brouillards // Mists
Feuilles mortes // Dead leaves
La puerta del vino // Gate of the Alhambra
Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses // Fairies are lovely dancers
Bruyères // Heather
General Levine - eccentric // General Levine (Lyavin) - eccentric
La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
Ondine // Ondine
Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. // Homage to S. Pickwick, Esq.
Canope // Canopy
Les tierces alternées // Alternating thirds
Feux d'artifice // Fireworks
"Heroic Lullaby" (1914)
Elegy (1915)
"Etudes", two books of plays (1915)
B) for piano 4 hands
Andante (1881; unpublished)
Divertissement (1884)
"Little Suite" (1886-1889)
"Six Antique Epigraphs" (1914). There is an author's adaptation of the last of the six pieces for piano in 2 hands, made in 1914.
C) for 2 pianos
"Black and White", three pieces (1915)

Processing of other people's works

Two hymnopedias (1st and 3rd) by E. Satie for orchestra (1896)
Three dances from P. Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" for piano 4 hands (1880)
"Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" by C. Saint-Saens for 2 pianos (1889)
Second Symphony by C. Saint-Saens for 2 pianos (1890)
Overture to the opera "The Flying Dutchman" by R. Wagner for 2 pianos (1890)
"Six etudes in the form of a canon" by R. Schumann for 2 pianos (1891)

Sketches, lost works, designs

Opera "Rodrigo and Ximena" (1890-1893; not completed). Remodeled by Richard Langham Smith and Edison Denisov (1993)
Opera "The Devil in the Bell Tower" (1902-1912?; sketches). Remodeled by Robert Orledge (premiered in 2012)

Opera The Fall of the House of Usher (1908-1917; not completed). There are several reconstructions, including those by Juan Allende-Blin (1977), Robert Orledge (2004)

Opera Crimes of Love (Gallant Festivities) (1913-1915; sketches)
Opera "Salambo" (1886)
Music for the play "The Weddings of Satan" (1892)
Opera "Oedipus at Colon" (1894)
Three nocturnes for violin and orchestra (1894-1896)
Ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1895-1897)
Ballet "Aphrodite" (1896-1897)
Ballet "Orpheus" (circa 1900)
Opera As You Like It (1902-1904)
Lyrical tragedy "Dionysus" (1904)
Opera "The Story of Tristan" (1907-1909)
Opera "Siddhartha" (1907-1910)
Opera "Oresteia" (1909)
Ballet "Masks and Bergamasks" (1910)
Sonata for oboe, horn and harpsichord (1915)
Sonata for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano (1915)

Letters

Monsieur Croche - antidillettante, P., 1921
Articles, reviews, conversations, trans. from French, M.-L., 1964
Fav. letters, L., 1986.

SO - How long did the friendship between Debussy and Satie last?

F. P. - Of course! The friendship between Satie and Debussy lasted long years. Satie often had breakfast at Debussy's on the Avenue du Bois. Debussy greatly appreciated Sati's gift of foresight, he loved his stories, his funny antics, and besides, he could not help but feel the simplicity and nobility of sound combinations in the plays of his old Friend. There is a well-known anecdote about how Debussy reproached Satie for neglecting the form, and Satie some time later brought him Pieces in the Shape of a Pear for piano 4 hands. You know that some pieces, such as "The Flabby Prelude for the Dog", are soft and veiled satires on the somewhat pretentious titles of certain Debussy Preludes, such as "The Audience Terrace in the Moonlight" ... Was Debussy offended by the hidden hint or Satie did not want to follow the advice of Debussy when he himself became famous, only in 1916 did they suddenly quarrel for good, just as from 1924 until his death Satie broke with Aurik and me due to differences in aesthetic views that arose.

S. O - So a small episode from the history of music has become clear. Since you knew Erik Satie so well, I would like you to draw us his portrait.

F. P. - Hm, hm! Those who were lucky enough to see the portraits of Satie, created by Jean Cocteau, can get an accurate idea of him. For others, I will try to outline the silhouette of this strange person. Sati never, in winter or summer, parted with a bowler hat, which he greatly revered, and with a rain umbrella, which he simply adored. After Sati's death, when they were finally able to get into his room in Arkeya, which no one dared to do during Sati's life, many umbrellas were found there; some of them were still in their packaging. When once, by mistake, Orik pierced Sati's umbrella with his umbrella, he had to listen from the "good teacher" and "scoundrel", and "ignorant", and ... "punks". Sati, even in summer, very rarely parted with a wide cloak and wrapped himself in it, like in a bathrobe. The beard, which he carefully trimmed, the pince-nez, which he constantly raised to his eyes with a majestic gesture - these are some of the characteristic features of this strange man, half French, half Irish. Sati was distinguished by extreme cleanliness. “Bath, no way! he argued. - Well, you can wash only in parts! I rub my skin with a pumice stone; it penetrates much deeper than soap, my madam,” he explained at some evening to one of his admirers. As the case of Orik's umbrella shows, Sati's fits of anger were terrible, often followed by heavy quarrels and very rarely by reconciliation. Sati - we have to admit it - suffered a little from persecution mania. He was very friendly with Ravel (it was Ravel who first performed Satie's pieces in the Musical Society of Independents in 1911), and then they quarreled so much that Satie in 1920, without hesitation, wrote in an avant-garde leaflet: "Maurice Ravel refused the order" Legion of Honor", but all his work accepts him." Of course, we were wrong in following Sati in everything, even his delusions, but we were twenty years old, and we had to protect ourselves from Ravel's mirages at all costs. Later, Ravel himself was the first to forgive us, Orik and me, our sins. And, you know, there is not a single composer, up to Stravinsky, for whom Satie's aesthetics would not serve as an impetus for something new. After the appearance of Les Noces, lush and barbaric, the clear dryness of Parade pointed out to Stravinsky the possibility of speaking in a different voice, the voice that sounded in The Mavr at this very important turning point in the work of the Great Igor. And, you know, in Stravinsky's later work, the Sonata for Two Pianos, Satie's direct influence is noticeable, first in the first bars of the first movement, and then in one of the ballets, where there is a variation exactly written by Satie.

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