I - Prelude / II - Menuet / III - Clair de lune / IV - Passepied
I,II,IV - Pianist - François-Joël Thiollier
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Suite bergamasque
The Suite bergamasque (French pronunciation: [bɛʁɡamask]) is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. Debussy commenced the suite in 1890 at age 28, but he did not finish or publish it until 1905.
History
The Suite bergamasque was first composed by Debussy around 1890, but was significantly revised just before its publication in 1905. It seems that by the time a publisher came to Debussy in order to cash in on his fame and have these pieces published, Debussy loathed the earlier piano style in which these pieces were written. While it is not known how much of the Suite was written in 1890 and how much was written in 1905, we do know that Debussy changed the names of at least two of the pieces.
"Passepied" was called "Pavane", and "Clair de lune" was originally titled "Promenade Sentimentale." These names also come from Paul Verlaine's poems. It is interesting, however, to note that "Promenade Sentimentale" alludes specifically to one of Verlaine's earliest collections, "Poèmes saturniens," a fact that Debussy obviously took into account when he changed the name (and most likely a lot of the music) in order to suit both his later style, and Verlaine's.
The suite has been orchestrated by many composers, including André Caplet, Leopold Stokowski and Lucien Cailliet.Clair de luneThe third and most famous movement of Suite bergamasque is "Clair de lune," meaning "moon shine" 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.
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