Clair de lune-vocal

Our selection concludes with two songs from the first collection of Fêtes galantes (1891), another set devoted to the poetry if Verlaine. Debussy’s vocal “Clair de lune” is not the world-famous piano piece with the same title, though the song seems hardly less attractive than its namesake. He relies here on a pentatonic harmonization to suggest distance and exoticism, and that effect perfectly supports Verlaine’s exquisite opening line: “Votre amê est un paysage choisi” (Your soul is a chosen landscape). Throughout the song tonal centers are mere reference points within stasis, the prevailing effect explored throughout the opening song of Fêtes galantes, “En sourdine” (“Muted,” not heard this evening). “Triste et beau” (sad and beautiful—this duality is the keynote of a great deal of Debussy’s music, and this song epitomizes the feeling. “Fantoches,” on the other hand, trades in meditation for action. The vocal line is athletic and challenging throughout, while the chromatic side-slipping harmonies and angular melodies capture the inhuman gestures of the “Marionettes.”

(c) Jason Stell