Discovering Debussy's lens of adulthood sophistication in Children's Corner
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Abstract
For more than a century there has been much scholarship invested in Claude Debussy's life,
music and aesthetics. The important aspects of his life and substantial works, such as Prelude a
l'Apres-midi d'un faune, Pelleas et Melisande and La Mer, are fairly well documented and evaluated, certainly more than his smaller work such as Children s Corner. These miniature pieces for solo piano necessitate some in-depth inquiry and rumination, for they are often neglected and misinterpreted due to over-simplification.
This research aims to attest that Children s Corner was not only an inevitable result of much hardship, frustrating circumstance and accumulated pressure for the composer, but also one of the most intimate and idiosyncratic expression of his aesthetics. In order to grasp the milieu and the inspiration of the creation of Children's Corner, we will first investigate Debussy's life up to 1906, the year Debussy began composing Children's Corner. Also, to understand fully the introspective poetry of the work and to find a proper way to construe the hidden meaning of it, three important subjects will be explored: the notion of the Romantic child; Symbolism; and the concept of ornament. Lastly, the actual analysis of Children's Corner and the application of the philosophical concepts to the music will establish the value of this miniature work.
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This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.