Claude Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
's ''Reflets dans l'eau'' ("Reflections in the Water") is the first of three
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
pieces from his first volume of ''
Images'', which are frequently performed separately. It was written in 1905.
As with much of Debussy's work, it is referred to as
Impressionistic, meaning that it expresses emotions and senses by making use of
non-functional harmony and ambiguous
key signature
In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the cl ...
s, its tonality being mainly non-diatonic and usually having a sense of
modality
Modality may refer to:
Humanities
* Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations
* Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales
* Modalit ...
.
It has similarities to
Ravel's earlier piece
''Jeux d'eau''. While in some ways Debussy influenced his younger contemporary, Ravel was arguably the first to adopt impressionism.
Musical analysis
''Reflets dans l'eau'' opens in a slow tempo (''andantino molto'') (which is repeated through much of the piece) while the right hand is playing a set of chords to
accompany the melody.
The piece has several brief melody statements and climaxes that are more glimpses of music than full ideas, which is typical of Debussy's middle and late piano works. Writing "images", Debussy was purposely intending not to create linear musical progression, but a sonic representation of water. ''Reflets dans l'eau'' is also an example of the new tone colors Debussy discovered for the piano in this part of his life, and although he later refined this style, it is representative of a major breakthrough in piano writing.
See also
*
List of compositions by Claude Debussy by genre
Notes
External links
*
PDF copy of Reflets dans l'eauon Free-scores.com
''Reflets dans L'eau'' Ampico piano roll version, recorded in 1916 by
Leo Ornstein
Leo Ornstein (born ''Lev Ornshteyn''; ; – February 24, 2002) was an American Experimental music, experimental composer and pianist of the early twentieth century. His performances of works by avant-garde composers and his own innovative and ev ...
and again in 2009 on a 1925 Mason & Hamlin Ampico RBB using an original Ampico roll.
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Solo piano compositions by Claude Debussy
1905 compositions