DEBUSSY — Quatre chansons de jeunesse

Claude Debussy: Quatre chansons de jeunesse
Emily Pogorelc, soprano
Mikael Eliasen, piano

Performed on Friday, January 15, 2016
Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia

0:00 Pantomime
2:55 Clair de lune
6:25 Pierrot
8:28 Apparition

One of the most important composers of the impressionist era, Claude Debussy’s music often reflects the complexities and contradictions of life in intricate and beautiful ways. Many of his most popular works are simultaneously witty and serious; charmingly sweet and desolately gloomy; full of childlike whimsy and expressing universal truths. Debussy’s songs are no exception, and perhaps more strongly prove the rule, as the inclusion of texts by some of France’s most notable poets lends additional layers of meaning that are not always obvious in Debussy’s more inscrutable instrumental works (Debussy was infamous in his lifetime for composing works with obvious programmatic associations, but refusing to elaborate on specific meanings or references).

Debussy’s Quatre chansons de jeunesse reference a much earlier musical tradition, commedia dell’arte, a type of theater performance originating in the 16th century Italy. Commedia dell’arte was typically partially or fully improvised, and featured professional actors who often perfected a certain role or character. Each of Debussy’s songs calls back to characters and concepts that would have been well known to anyone familiar with commedia dell’arte. “Pantomime” references specific characters, such as Pierrot and Harlequin, who originated in the form, while “Clair de Lune” imagines a moonlit scene, a common element of a commedia dell’arte performance. “Pierrot” deals specifically with the titular character, a clownish figure who has been featured in many musical works over the centuries. The final song “Apparition,” juxtaposes a typically effusive romantic scene with a mysterious flashback that comments on the complexities of human relationships.