Debussy: La Damoiselle élue, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien & Nocturnes

Featuring

Melody Louledjian
Emanuela Pascu
Mikko Franck
Choeur de Radio France
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Maîtrise de Radio France

Claude Debussy

Did you know?

1/7

Composer's Artistic Vision

For his Nocturnes, Debussy wrote descriptive texts for each movement, likening them to paintings: "Nuages" (Clouds), "Fêtes" (Festivals), and "Sirènes" (Sirens).

Composition History

Debussy's La Damoiselle élue was his third submission to the Institut as a winner of the Prix de Rome, and was generally well-received despite its "systematic tendencies towards vagueness."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Claude Debussy advised listening to "the wind that passes and tells us the history of the world" for inspiration, rather than heeding human advice.

Compositional Technique

Debussy's Nocturnes for orchestra were originally conceived for solo violin and orchestra for Eugène Ysaÿe, a Belgian virtuoso violinist, but the project was abandoned.

Critical Reception

The premiere of Le Martyre de saint Sébastien was met with lukewarm enthusiasm due to its nearly five-hour length and the Archbishopric of Paris's injunction against attending it.

Critical Reception

La Damoiselle élue was admired by Ernest Chausson, a French composer, and Odilon Redon, a French Symbolist painter, who even gave Debussy a lithograph.

Recording & Production

The recording of Le Martyre de saint Sébastien was made in September 2020, La Damoiselle élue in September 2019, and Nocturnes in August 2020, all at the Auditorium de la Maison de la Radio.