Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 03/29/2008, uploaded on 03/09/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Claude Debussy composed Children’s Corner, a six-movement suite for solo piano, for his three-year-old daughter Claude-Emma who was often referred to by her nickname “Chou-Chou.” It was published in 1908 and was premiered in December of that year by Harold Bauer. Like Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen composed seventy years earlier, Debussy did not intend his suite to be performed necessarily by children, but rather for the work to be evocative of youthful scenes from a child’s life. Similarly, Debussy also provided descriptive titles for each piece to aid the performer in rendering the chosen scenes. These titles were given in English, partly because Claude-Emma’s English nanny helped in pick them, but also due to the widespread infatuation of English culture that had gripped Paris, as well as Debussy himself, during the time of the suite’s composition. While the pieces of Children’s Corner are not representative of Debussy’s mature Impressionistic style, they nonetheless display his highly imaginative ability to create a myriad of tone colors.

The first piece, “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum,” is a good-humored jab at Muzio Clementi’s famous manual of piano exercises Gradus ad Parnassum, published in 1817. One hears the student diligently beginning a finger exercise in C major, but soon either because of boredom or curiosity ventures off into other keys. He returns to the exercises, yet grows impatient and rushes hurriedly to the final cadence. The following piece, “Jimbo’s Lullaby,” describes a toy elephant, depicted in the lumbering opening melody heard in the bass. Debussy here quotes the French lullaby “Do, do, l’enfant do.”

Next comes “Serenade of the Doll,” a lighthearted Allegretto marked to be played throughout with the soft pedal of the piano depressed. Fourth in the suite is “The Snow is Dancing.” Debussy here captures many a child’s favorite scene — the gentle descent of snowflakes which slowly and magically cover the outside world. Then follows “The Little Shepherd,” which depicts a little shepherd boy playing his pipe. The melody in this piece is at times calm and pastoral, while at others playful and energetic. Last in the suite is “Golliwogg’s Cakewalk.” Utilizing the ragtime music of America, this final piece was inspired by the popular Golliwogg (and the rag dolls which share its name) series of children’s books by Florence Kate Upton. During the finale’s central episode, Debussy pokes a little fun at Richard Wagner, quoting the principal motif from his opera Tristan und Isolde, which is immediately answered by comical imitations of the banjo.      Joseph DuBose

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complete recording of Children's Corner

Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum

Jimbo's Lullaby

Serenade of the Doll

The Snow is Dancing

The Little Shepherd

Golliwogg's Cakewalk