106. Classical Music: 21. Claude Debussy, ACJ Music Academy

 

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This week's lecture is “Claude Debussy”, the 21st topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “106. Classical Music: 21. Claude Debussy” introduced on October 12th, 2017.

Claude Debussy, born on 22 August 1862 and died on 25 March 1918, was a French composer, one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although he showed great resistance to the term, he is regarded as the first Impressionist composer. 

Rue au Pain, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, street
of Debussy's birthplace

Born into a modest family, Debussy showed outstanding musical talent, enough to be admitted to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris, at the age of 10. Originally studying piano, Debussy found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. After spending many years developing his own style, Debussy gained international fame in 1902, around the age of 40, with “Pelléas et Mélisande”, the only opera he completed.

Poster for the prèmiere of Pelléas et
Mélisande at the Théâtre de
l'Opéra-Comique (30 April 1902)

Debussy's orchestral works include "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", "Nocturnes" and "Images". Much of his music was a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. Debussy, who regarded the classical symphony as obsolete, sought an alternative in his symphonic sketches, “La mer.” 

Cover of 1905 edition of score, La mer,
based on Hokusai's c. 1831 woodblock print,
The Great Wave off Kanagawa

His piano pieces include 24 Préludes and 12 Études. Throughout his career, Debussy wrote melodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own, and was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the late 19th century. A few of his works, including his early work “La Damoiselle élue” and his later work “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien”, contain important parts for chorus. In his final years, he concentrated on chamber music, planning six sonatas for different instrument combinations but completing three of them.

Illustration for the premiere, Le Martyre
de saint Sébastien

With early influences, including Russian and Far Eastern music, Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, but he was derided and resisted by many of the musical establishments of the day. His works have strongly influenced many composers, including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and Bill Evans. Debussy died of cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55, after a composing career of a little more than 30 years.

A statue of Claude Debussy in front of the Saint Germain
Church, Île-de-France, France

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COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: 29. Maurice Ravel

 

 

Born: March 7, 1875; Ciboure, France

Died: December 28, 1937; Paris, France

Nationality: French

Occupation: Composer, pianist, conductor

Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor, born on March 7, 1875 and died on December 28, 1937. Although both composers rejected the term, Ravel is often associated with impressionist music along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy. In the 1920s and 1930s, Ravel was internationally recognized as France's greatest living composer.

Ravel (1925)

Born into a music-loving family, Ravel entered the Paris Conservatoire, France's premier music college, but he was not well regarded by its conservative establishment. After leaving the conservatoire, he found his own way as a composer, developing a style of outstanding clarity, and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism, and in his later works, jazz. 

Le Belvédère in Montfort L'Amaury, 

where Ravel lived from 1921 until his death

As in his most famous work, Boléro (1928), Ravel liked to experiment with musical form that repetition replaces the development of music. He also made orchestral arrangements of other composers' music, the most famous of which was his 1922 version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Maurice Ravel's Museum House, Montfort L' Amaury

Ravel, who composed music slowly and painstakingly, left fewer works than many of his contemporaries. Among his works, the works included in the repertoire are works for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles. Many of his works exist in two versions, one for the piano and the other for the orchestra. 

Bust of Maurice Ravel, 

Montfort L'Amaury

Ravel was one of the first composers to recognize the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider audience, and despite limited technique at the time, he took part in recordings of several of his works from the 1920s.

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COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: 14. Claude Debussy

Born: August 22, 1862; Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

Died: March 25, 1918; Paris, France

Nationality: French

Occupation: Composer

Claude Debussy, one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a French composer who was born on August 22, 1862 and died on March 25, 1918. He is regarded as the first impressionist composer, but he strongly rejected the term. 

Rue au Pain, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, street of Debussy's birthplace

Born in a middle-class family with little cultural involvement, Debussy was a figure who had a great musical talent enough to be admitted to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris, at the age of ten. He originally studied piano, but despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's professors, he decided to pursue his career as an innovative composer, not as a pianist. Debussy, who took many years to develop his mature style, gained international fame for the first time at the age of 40 in 1902, with the only opera he completed, “Pelléas et Mélisande."

Debussy's orchestra works include “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)”, “Nocturnes (1897–1899)” and “Images pour orchestra (1905–1912)”. Much of his music was a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. He considered the classical symphony as obsolete and tried to find an alternative in his symphonic sketches, “La mer (1903-1905).” His piano works include two books of “Préludes” and “12 Études.” Throughout his career, Debussy wrote melodies based on various poems. 

Debussy's last home

He was also greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement in the late 19th century. A small number of works, including “La Damoiselle élue” and “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien,” have important parts for chorus. He focused on chamber music, completing three of the six planned sonatas for different combinations of instruments, in his final years.

His works have greatly influenced composers in a wide range of music, including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 

Debussy, who had been composing music for a little more than 30 years, died of cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55.

Debussy's grave, Passy Cemetery, Paris

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Interesting Art Stories: 9. Whistler's Mother, James McNeill Whistler, ACJ Art Academy

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On every Thursday, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 9th story for this week is "Whistler's Mother" by an American painter, James McNeill Whistler.

Portrait of the Painter

Best known as “Whistler's Mother”, “Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1” is an oil painting on canvas by American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871. It is one of the most famous paintings by American artists outside the United States. The model in this painting, which measures 1,443 mm × 1,624 mm, is Whistler's mother, “Anna McNeill Whistler,” and the frame was designed by Whistler himself. Currently, the painting is owned by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France, after having been bought by the French government in 1891. It has been also called as “an American icon" or "a Victorian Mona Lisa".

Anna Whistler

Anna Whistler became the model for this painting while living with her son at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea in London, England. It cannot be verified, but there are some anecdotes about this painting. One of them is that Anna Whistler was modeled as a replacement for another model her son couldn't make the appointment. Another one is that Whistler originally tried to draw the model standing up, but because his mother's health was not good, it was impossible to pose standing for a long time, hence he drew the painting of a sitting position.

This painting was exhibited at the 104th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art in London in 1872. Although Whistler's etching work, “Old Putney Bridge” was exhibited in the exhibition in 1879, it was the last painting he submitted for the Academy's approval for the exhibition. 

Old Putney Bridge, James McNeill Whistler (1879)

Visitors in the Victorian era would not accept a portrait being displayed under the title "arrangement", hence the subtitle "Portrait of the Painter's mother" was added to the painting, and it was later simply called "Whistler's Mother". After seeing the painting, Thomas Carlyle, an English historian, agreed to become a model for another painting of a composition similar to this painting, titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2”. Therefore, the previous painting, "Whistler's Mother" automatically got the title of "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1".

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 2 (Thomas Carlyle), (1872-73)

Whistler's works, including this one, had attracted many imitators, especially many similar paintings were drawn by American expatriate painters. The painting displayed in a major museum also helped Whistler to attract wealthy patrons. The image in this painting has been used as an icon for “motherhood”, “affection for parents”, and "family values", especially in the United States since the Victorian era. As an example, in 1934, in the United States, a stamp was issued bearing the slogan "In memory and in honor of the mothers of America" with the portrait detail from "Whistler's Mother". In the borough of Ashland, Pennsylvania, an 8-foot-high statue based on the painting was built as a tribute to mothers by the Ashland Boys' Association in 1938, during the Great Depression.

U.S. postage stamp (1934)

Mothers' Memorial, Ashland, Pennsylvania

Author Martha Tedeschi stated the influence of the painting as follows:

“Whistler's Mother, Wood's American Gothic, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's The Scream have all achieved something that most paintings, regardless of their art historical importance, beauty, or monetary value, have not. These few works have successfully made the transition from the elite realm of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of popular culture”.

American Gothic, Grant Wood (1930)

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1503–1506)

The Scream, Edvard Munch (1893)

“Whistler's Mother” had a profound influence on French composer Claude Debussy. In 1894, Debussy wrote to violinist Eugène Ysaÿe about his "Nocturnes," as "an experiment in the different combinations that can be obtained from one color – what a study in grey would be in painting”.

Claude Debussy

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