Debussy

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• Estampes (‘prints’) was written in 1903
• It was the first of Debussy’s piano works to be truly impressionistic - a term first applied to the work of such painters as Monet

Notice in this respect:

• Emphasis on colour and texture
• Use of the piano’s sustain pedal to blend sonorities
• Music that was not designed to be programmatic so much as allusive
• There are 3 pieces in Estampes, the last of wihch is ‘Jardins sous la pluie which is based on a French folk song
• The prescribed works show influences of Indonesian gamelan music (‘pagodes’) and Spanish music (‘La soiree dans Grenade’)
• Debussy first became acquainted with the Javanese gamelan at the Paris World Exhibition in 1889, and it clearly influenced the sonority and melodic content of ‘Pagodes’ (use of pentatonic scale)