''Suite bergamasque'' (
L. 75) () is a
piano suite
Suite may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition
** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach
** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó
** ''Suite' ...
by
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 ...
. He began composing it around 1890, at the age of 28, but significantly revised it just before its 1905 publication.
The popularity of the 3rd movement, "Clair de lune", has made it one of the composer's most famous works for piano, as well as one of the most famous musical pieces of all-time.
[Guo, Shulin. ]
A Study of Claude Debussy's Suite Bergamasque: Prelude, Menuet, Clair de Lune and Passepied
'. Diss. University of Kansas, 2019. Web. 19 May 2020.
Background
The composer was initially unwilling to use these relatively early piano compositions because they were not in his mature style, but in 1905 he accepted the offer of a publisher who thought they would be successful, given the fame Debussy had gained in the intervening fifteen years.
While it is not known how much of the ''Suite'' was written in 1890 and how much was written in 1905, it is clear that Debussy changed the names of at least two of the pieces. "Passepied" had first been composed under the title "Pavane", while "Clair de lune" was originally entitled "Promenade sentimentale". These names come from poems by
Paul Verlaine.
The title of the third movement of ''Suite bergamasque'' is taken from Verlaine's poem "
Clair de lune", which refers to
bergamask
Bergamask, bergomask, bergamesca, or bergamasca (from the town of Bergamo in Northern Italy), is a dance and associated melody and chord progression.
Reputation
It was considered a clumsy rustic dance (cf. Shakespeare, ''A Midsummer Night's Dr ...
s in the opening stanza:
Structure
''Suite bergamasque'' consists of four
movements:
# Prélude (Moderato tempo rubato, F major, )
# Menuet (Andante, A minor, )
# Clair de lune (Andante très expressif, D major, )
# Passepied (Allegretto ma non troppo, F minor, )
Movements
1. Prélude
The first piece in the suite, entitled "Prélude", is in the key of F major and marked ''moderato
tempo rubato''.
Its legato phrases give it a smooth, flowing feel.
2. Menuet
The second movement of ''Suite bergamasque'' is the "Menuet", in A minor.
Rather than mimicking the articulations of a baroque
minuet from the start, Debussy eschews the accent on the downbeat of the first measures. The light, fluttery embellishments Debussy writes throughout the movement give it the character of an
arabesque.
3. Clair de lune
The third movement of ''Suite bergamasque'' is "Clair de lune", in D major. It is written in
meter and marked ''andante très expressif''.
Its title, which means "moonlight" in French, is taken from Verlaine's poem "
Clair de lune".
It is not to be confused with the two settings of the poem composed by Debussy for voice and piano accompaniment.
4. Passepied
The final movement, entitled "Passepied", is in F minor, marked ''allegretto ma non troppo''.
A
passepied is a type of dance that originated in
Brittany. This movement is fast and light,
with the left hand playing an almost continuous quaver accompaniment.
The movement includes the use of 3 against 4
polyrhythm.
Arrangements
''Suite bergamasque'' has been
orchestrated and arranged by many people, both for concert performance and for use in other media.
In particular, "Clair de lune" has been arranged for a wide variety of instrumental combinations, including notable orchestrations by
André Caplet,
Leopold Stokowski, and
Lucien Cailliet
Lucien Cailliet (May 22, 1891 – January 3, 1985) was a French-American composer, conductor, arranger and clarinetist.
Biography
Cailliet was born in 1891 at Dampierre-sur-Moivre, in northern France.
He studied at several French music conse ...
.
"Clair de lune" was originally intended to be included as a fully orchestrated piece in the 1940
Walt Disney animated film ''
Fantasia
Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
''. However, due to runtime issues, it was eventually not included in the final cut of the film. Instead, the footage for its intended segment (featuring
herons in the Florida
Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
at night) was recycled for the "Blue Bayou" segment of the subsequent film ''
Make Mine Music''. However, the "Clair de lune" segment was later restored after a
workprint of it was rediscovered in 1992, complete with an original score by Stokowski and the
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription ...
. It is included as a bonus feature in some later releases of ''Fantasia''.
"Passepied" was arranged by the
Punch Brothers for
bluegrass instrumentation for their album ''
The Phosphorescent Blues''.
A
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
arrangement of "Clair de lune" was used at the
Closing Ceremony at the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
on August 8, 2021, as children prayed for peace and as the
Olympic Flame was put off. This was the version produced by the Japanese electronic music pioneer
Isao Tomita for his 1974 album ''
Snowflakes Are Dancing'', consisting of arrangements and renditions of compositions by Debussy, including ''Passepied''.
Notes
External links
*
*
''Suite bergamasque: "Clair de Lune"''a
www.wikisource.org''Suite bergamasque''at Cantorion.org
{{authority control
Suites by Claude Debussy
Compositions for solo piano
1905 compositions
Orchestral suites
Piano