In celebration of Claude Debussy’s 150th birthday, here are links to three of his most famous works, downloadable from the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) for free!!
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune) : “The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature.” – Claude Debussy [source]
Children’s Corner Suite : Children’s Corner (L. 113) is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. In 1911, an orchestration of the work by Debussy’s friend André Caplet received its première and was subsequently published. [source]
Clair de Lune : The third and most famous movement of Suite bergamasque is “Clair de lune,” meaning “moonlight” in French. Its name comes from Paul Verlaine’s poem of the same name which also refers to ‘bergamasques’ in its opening stanza: Votre âme est un paysage choisi / Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques / Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi / Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques. [source]
Along with these great Debussy pieces, we’d like to attach the music to our featured video!
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