Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

's ''Études'' ( L 136) are a set of twelve piano

étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popu ...

s composed in 1915. Debussy described them as "a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands". They are broadly considered his late masterpieces. # ''Étude 1 pour les cinq doigts d'après Monsieur Czerny'' (five fingers, "after Monsieur

Czerny Czerny is a surname meaning "black" in some Slavic languages. It is one of many variant forms, including Czarny, Černý, Czernik, Cherney, and Čierny, among others. People Notable people with this surname include: * Adalbert Czerny (1863–194 ...

") # ''Étude 2 pour les tierces'' ( thirds) # ''Étude 3 pour les quartes'' ( fourths) # ''Étude 4 pour les sixtes'' ( sixths) # ''Étude 5 pour les

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

s'' # ''Étude 6 pour les huit doigts'' (eight fingers) # ''Étude 7 pour les degrés chromatiques'' (

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...

degrees) # ''Étude 8 pour les agréments'' (

ornaments An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Ornamental turning *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals tha ...

) # ''Étude 9 pour les notes répétées'' (repeated notes) # ''Étude 10 pour les sonorités opposées'' (opposing sonorities) # ''Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés'' (composite

arpeggio An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpe ...

s) # ''Étude 12 pour les accords'' ( chords)

Notes

References

* Elie Robert Schmitz, V. Thomson. ''The Piano Works of Claude Debussy''. Courier Dover Publications, 1966. *

External links

* * Solo piano compositions by Claude Debussy 1915 compositions

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

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