Claude Debussy (1862-1918): “Clair de lune” from Suite Bergamasque

Inspired by Watteau's paintings, Paul Verlaine's Fête galantes of 1869 begins with a poem titled Clair de lune (Moonlight).  Twenty years later, Debussy, inspired by Verlaine, used the title for the third movement of his Suite Bergamasque. The suite's title refers to Bergamo, the region in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy whose peasants are said to be the prototypes for the Commedia dell'Arte characters Harlequin, Columbine, Pierrot, Pantalon, Pulcinella and Scaramouche.    

Debussy originally titled the third movement Promenade sentimentale, after another Verlaine poem, but changed the title before publication in 1905.

Program Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2022.