Clair de Lune by Debussy

Clair de Lune by Debussy is one of the most famous piano pieces ever written. It appears in commercials, movies, and is the subject of countless YouTube videos. The piece has been arranged for all kinds of other instruments and instrument combinations, including guitar. In short, it may be one of the most well-known pieces of classical music ever written.

But do you know its story? We’ll introduce you to a little bit about the composer, the piece and its history, and what versions you should check out (including on guitar).

First, let’s listen to a marvelous performance of the piece on the piano by Maria João Pires:

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

The French composer Achille Claude Debussy is usually included among the Impressionist composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. However, Debussy was clear in a letter in 1908 that the term impressionism was “poorly used” by “imbeciles,” and that he was trying to do something “different.” But sometimes we don’t get to choose how history will remember or label us. And so Debussy is still widely known today as an “impressionist.” Other impressionists of the time would be Fauré and Ravel. But you may be more familiar with the Spanish nationalists, who also composed in an impressionist style: Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados. In another setting, the Mexican composer Manuel Maria Ponce skillfully utilized impressionist writing in some of his music.

Whatever his status as an impressionist, like painters and others included under that category, Debussy wrote many pieces that are reflective of nature (which he called “my religion”). The most significant are:

  • Printemps
  • Reflets dans l’eau
  • La Mer 

He wrote a great deal of important piano music, including the Suite Bergamasque, Two Arabesques, and Pour le Piano. However, some of his orchestral music is also monumental, especially the aforementioned La Mer, Images, and Nocturnes.

Clair de Lune

Jean-Antoine Watteau's painting MezzetinClair de Lune, which means moonlight in French, is the name of a poem written by Paul Verlaine in 1869. The images in Verlaine’s poem owe a great debt to a series of paintings by the French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau. Watteau painted in a style known as “fête galante” featuring figures in ball gowns and wearing masks and “bergamasques.” Central figures are characters of the divine commedia made popular in Bergamo, Italy. Verlaine had originally called his poem “Fêtes galantes” referencing “masques et bergamasques” all set under the “calme clair de lune de Watteau.” In the final published edition, he took out Watteau’s name and changed the poem’s name to “Clair de Lune.” (Fêtes galantes became the title of the collection of poems in which Clair de Lune was one part.)

Verlaine’s poem became the subject of Gabriel Fauré’s song of the same title included in his Two Songs, Op.46 along with pieces written by other French composers of the time. But, more significantly, it was also the title of the third movement of Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, L.75. As you will notice, the title of Debussy’s suite is also taken from Verlaine’s poem. In fact, Debussy wrote two other settings of the same title, Clair de Lune, for piano and voice.

Debussy’s Clair de Lune

The most memorable Clair de Lune is Debussy’s from the Suite Bergamasque. It is the third movement, in the key of Db Major, with a 9/8 time signature. The expression marking at the beginning of the piece is Andante très expressif. The music begins with an introductory section that is slow and airy building toward the middle section. The middle section of the piece has a melody on top with long notes broken up by a quicker arpeggio in sextuplets underneath.

Middle section with sextuplets from Debussy's Clair de LuneWe are lucky that we can learn a little bit of how Debussy wanted the music to be played, from a written encounter with a student, Maurice Dumesnil. Dumesnil mentions that Debussy found his triplets to be “too strictly in time.” Thus the flow of the triplets should be more flexible. He also mentioned that both pedals should be depressed to allow the overtones to ring over one another. Regarding the arpeggios, Debussy was adamant: “The left-hand arpeggios should be fluid, mellow, drowned in pedal, as if played by a harp on a background of strings.”

To this end, the guitar might be a nice instrument for this second section, especially with some harp-like campanella fingerings. However, it is quite challenging to maintain this flow on the guitar.

Next, let’s turn to some performances so you can hear the full piece in different settings.

Guitar Performances

There are sections of the music that may sound somewhat simple. However, the middle section with flowing arpeggios with melody on top is anything but simple. For this reason, guitar arrangements either succeed or crash and burn on how well they approach that section. Here is one of the better guitar arrangements and performances by Enea Leone:

Perhaps a better setting for the piece on guitar is for guitar duo. The classic version is that of John Williams and Julian Bream:

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We hope you enjoyed this look into the story and details of one of Western classical music’s best known pieces, “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy. While some have tried to arrange the music for classical guitar, with varying levels of success, the music is still much better known on its home instrument of the piano. What’s your favorite version of this masterpiece?