Debussy revolutionised the landscape of piano composition, taking advantage of the capabilities of the instrument in new, creative ways. Although he didn’t like the impressionist label, he sought to capture moments, images and atmosphere in his music in a manner similar to that of the impressionist painters. Some of the most distinctive features of his compositional style are his use of harmony, pedal effects, dynamic contrasts and unconventional playing techniques to portray vivid imagery.
Whole tone and other exotic scales, parallel chords and unresolved dissonances are frequently employed by Debussy to create otherworldly soundscapes and imbue his music with a sense of mystery and allure. His use of the sustain pedal was also novel in creating atmospheric by blurring and blending harmonies together instead of simply sustaining individual notes or chords.
Romantic Beginnings
In this blog post we explore a few examples of Debussy’s innovations from works we’ve recently featured in video lessons, starting with the evocative Clair de lune. Clair de lune dates from when Chopin’s influence loomed large and it is decidedly more “romantic” than his later works e.g. the Préludes. Despite this, it demonstrates several aspects of Debussy’s use of harmony e.g. extended and parallel chords:
The Préludes
Debussy’s 24 Préludes are often cited as the apotheosis of impressionism. Interestingly, he placed titles at the conclusion of each work rather than at the beginning, almost as though descriptive words came as an afterthought to musical sound and imagery.
The second book of Préludes dates from 1911-1913 and shows marked development in Debussy’s style versus his piano pieces from the 1890’s. Debussy’s fascination with sound, creative application of the sustain pedal and unique harmonic language feature throughout these mature works.
Canope displays the composer’s imaginative response to hearing gamelan music with sonorities that project an exotic atmosphere. Measures 26-33 show Debussy’s planning of parallel chords followed by a particularly striking effect: pedaled open-voiced chords that exploit the resonance of the overtone series, supporting a pianissimo melody that brings the piece to an ethereal close:
Bruyères combines diatonic and chromatic passages to project a pastoral scene. Measures 29-33 display how Debussy updates “circle-of-fifths” movement by building dominant-13th chords with extended pedal resonance:
Brouillards presents the performer with voicing and pedaling challenges to project the elusive “fog” or “mists” amidst a highly chromatic and bi-tonal texture. Measures 25-32 display a range of pianistic figures that allow the pianist to create mysterious, uncommon sounds in a landscape that alternates between murkiness and brilliance:
Further Resources
If you’d like to explore Debussy’s piano music in more detail, our repertoire library contains several resources for some of his most popular works and we will also be publishing video lessons featuring Préludes from both Books I & II!
- Préludes (video lessons with marked scores)
- Clair de lune, No. 3 from Suite bergamasque, L75 (video lesson also with marked score)
- The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, No. 8 from Preludes, Book 1 (walk-through and annotated study edition)
- Other video lessons