Clair de Lune

Description

Originally written for piano, this challenging classic is arranged for Flute or Violin with piano accompaniment. This intermediate solo is meant to impress. It is ideal for recitals, auditions, and concert performances.

It is widely believed that Debussy was inspired by the Paul Verlaine's poem of the same name. The quiet, rolling melody and fantastical nature of the mood it evokes speaks to the dream-like landscape that Verlaine references—a landscape where costumed figures dance and play in the moonlight.

Clair de Lune by Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896)

Votre âme est un paysage choisi,

Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques,

Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi,

Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur,

L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,

Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur,

Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,

Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres,

Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,

Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

Translation

Your soul is a chosen landscape,

Where charming masked and costumed figures go,

Playing lute and dancing and almost,

Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.

All sing in a minor key,

Of all-conquering love and careless fortune,

They do not seem to believe in their happiness,

And their song mingles with the moonlight.

The still moonlight, sad and beautiful,

Which gives the birds to dream in the trees,

And makes the fountain sprays sob in ecstasy,

The tall, slender fountain sprays among the marble statues.