Suite bergamasque: No. 3 — Clair de lune

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Musical Terms (10)

• mouvement French
  The tempo marking — a moderate, flowing pace without a precise metronomic definition.
  Debussy deliberately avoided precise tempo markings in this piece. The movement should feel natural and unforced, like the movement of moonlight itself.
• pour le velours du son French
  For the velvety quality of the sound — Debussy's performance note indicating the desired tone quality.
  The sound of Clair de lune should feel like velvet: soft, warm, and without hard edges. Deep pedaling, arm weight rather than finger striking, and careful voicing of the inner harmonies all contribute.
• avec une grande variete de nuances French
  With great variety of nuance — a call for rich, continuous dynamic shaping within a phrase.
  Debussy expected micro-dynamic variation — not broad fortes and pianos but constant subtle modulation of the sound within a narrow dynamic range.
• Cédez French
  Gently relax the forward motion.
  Slight easing of tension\r\nA softening of rhythmic insistence\r\nThe phrase loosens its grip
• comme une lointaine sonnerie de cors French
  Like a distant horn call — evoking the resonance of horns heard from far away.
  The sound must travel; use a subtle halo of pedal resonance and play the passage with a slight hollowness in the tone, as if heard through air rather than directly.
• dans un brouillard French
  In a mist — a veiled, hazy sonic atmosphere.
  Achieved through careful pedal management, soft touch, and blended harmonies. The notes should seem to exist within the sound rather than on top of it.
• doux et fluide French
  Sweet and fluid — one of Debussy's characteristic expression marks indicating a smooth, dissolved quality of tone.
  Requires light touch, deep pedaling, and careful blending of harmonics. The sound should feel liquid rather than struck. Common in his piano preludes and études.
• mysterieux French
  Mysterious — hushed and enigmatic.
  Debussy's mysterious passages require a specific kind of quiet: not absence of sound but sound that conceals. Play as if you are not fully sure what you are revealing.
• quasi guitare French
  Like a guitar — dry, plucked, somewhat hollow in tone.
  Used in specific pieces to imitate the dry attack of a plucked guitar string. Release the pedal and use a light, detached touch with the fingers.
• rubato French
  In Debussy, rubato implies subtle, fine-grained flexibility — a gentle breath of the phrase, not sweeping Romantic displacement.
  Unlike the broad rubato of Chopin or Liszt, Debussy's rubato is almost imperceptible — a microsecond of weight on a particular note, a barely noticeable softening of the pulse.