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 ...

completed his String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 ( L.91), in 1893 when he was 31 years old. It is Debussy's only

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

Background

That year Debussy had abandoned the opera ''

Rodrigue et Chimène ''Rodrigue et Chimène'' (English: ''Rodrigo and Ximena'') is an unfinished opera in three acts by Claude Debussy. The French libretto, by Catulle Mendès,Langham Smith, Richard. Rodrigue et Chimène. In: ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macm ...

''. He planned to write two string quartets, only one of which materialized. The string quartet was to be dedicated to composer

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a ...

, whose personal reservations eventually diverted the composer's original intentions. The quartet received its premiere on December 29, 1893 by the Ysaÿe Quartet at the Société Nationale in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to mixed reactions.

Analysis

The work is in four movements: Its sensuality and impressionistic tonal shifts are emblematic of its time and place while, with its cyclic structure, it constitutes a final divorce from the rules of classical harmony and points the way ahead. After its premiere, composer

Guy Ropartz Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (; 15 June 1864 – 22 November 1955) was a French composer and conductor. His compositions included five symphony, symphonies, three violin sonatas, cello sonatas, six string quartets, a piano trio and string trio (both i ...

described the quartet as "dominated by the influence of young Russia (Debussy's patroness in the early 1880s had been

Nadezhda von Meck Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (russian: Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк; 13 January 1894) was a Russian businesswoman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic ...

, better known for her support of Tchaikovsky); there are poetic themes, rare sonorities, the first two movements being particularly remarkable." Debussy wrote that "Any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity."

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

said that Debussy freed

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

from "rigid structure, frozen rhetoric and rigid aesthetics."

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, an

Impressionist 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 ...

composer associated with Debussy, also wrote a single

, a piece that is modeled on Debussy's.

References

Citations Bibliography * Liner notes by Robert Orledge to Recording of the Quartet by Belcea Quartet

External links

*
Performance of String Quartet
by the

Borromeo String Quartet The Borromeo String Quartet is an American string quartet, in residence at the New England Conservatory since 1992. They have performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at numerous festivals and in many distinguished chamber mu ...

from the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format
'Debussy Quartet in G minor, Op. 10'
lecture by

Roger Parker Roger Parker (born London United Kingdom, 2 August 1951) is an English musicologist and, since January 2007, has been Thurston Dart Professor of Music at King's College London. His work has centred on opera. Between 2006 and 2010, while Profess ...

followed by a performance by the Badke Quartet, at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...

, 29 January 2008 (available for download as either video or audio files).
Notes
by Ong Yong Hui (archived via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

)
Notes
by Keith Anderson Chamber music by Claude Debussy

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 ...

1893 compositions {{chamber-composition-stub