''Estampes'' ("Prints"), L.100, is a composition for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

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

. It was finished in 1903. The first performance of the work was given by

Ricardo Viñes Ricardo Viñes y Roda (, ca, Ricard Viñes i Roda, ; 5 February 1875 – 29 April 1943) was a Spanish pianist. He gave the premieres of works by Ravel, Debussy, Satie, Falla and Albéniz. He was the piano teacher of the composer Francis Pou ...

at the

Société Nationale de Musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

in Paris. This three-movement piano suite is

impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Structure

''Estampes'' is a suite containing three movements:

I. ''Pagodes''

''Pagodes'' evokes Indonesian

gamelan music Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

, which Debussy first heard in the Paris World Conference Exhibition of 1889. It makes extensive use of

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...

s and mimics traditional Indonesian melodies. Four different pentatonic scales are incorporated within the piece, further defining the imagery of the pagoda. Pagodas are Oriental temples with petite bases that give rise to ornate roofs that typically curve upwards, much like the ascending melodic line (G, C, D) which serves as a repeated motive through different portions of the piece. As this is an

Impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

work, the goal is not overt expressiveness but instead an emphasis on the wash of color presented by the texture of the work. Debussy marks in the text that "''Pagodes''" should be played "''presque sans nuance''", or "almost without nuance." This rigidity of rhythm helps to reduce the natural inclination of pianists to add

rubato Tempo rubato (, , ; 'free in the presentation', literally ) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rub ...

and excessive expression.

II. ''La soirée dans Grenade''

''La soirée dans Grenade'' uses the Arabic scale and mimics guitar

strumming In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several Strings (music), strings to generate sound. On most st ...

to evoke images of

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. At the time of its writing, Debussy's only personal experience with the country was a few hours spent in

San Sebastián de los Reyes San Sebastián de los Reyes (colloquially called "Sanse") is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1492, it is located north of Madrid. Geography It forms an urban continuum with the neighboring Alcobendas, Transport ...

near

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Despite this, the Spanish composer

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...

said of the movement: "There is not even one measure of this music borrowed from the

Spanish folklore Folklore of Spain encompasses the folklore, folktales, oral traditions, and (urban) legends of Spain. Folktales * The Bird of Truth * The Knights of the Fish * The Sprig of Rosemary * The Vain Little Mouse * The Water of LifeMaspons y Labró ...

, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys admirably Spain."Schmitz, Robert E. ''The Piano Works of Claude Debussy''. New York: Duyell, Sloan and Pearce Publishers, 1950. pp 85-86.

III. ''Jardins sous la pluie''

''Jardins sous la pluie'' describes a garden in the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

town of

Orbec Orbec () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Population International relations Orbec is twinned with: *Kingsteignton UK since 1979 *Frammersbach (Germany) since 1987 See also *Communes of t ...

during an extremely violent rainstorm. Throughout the piece, there are sections that evoke the sounds of the wind blowing, a thunderstorm raging, and raindrops dropping. It makes use of the French folk melodies "''Nous n'irons plus aux bois''" and "''Dodo, l'enfant do.''" Chromatic, whole tone, major and minor scales are used in this movement.

References

External links

* Suites by Claude Debussy Compositions for solo piano 1903 compositions {{classical-composition-stub