Nocturnes

Debussy completed his three-movement orchestral suite Nocturnes in 1899. He explained that his work did not relate to Chopin’s Nocturnes for piano, but to paintings with the same name by American artist James Whistler: “The title is not meant to designate the usual form of the Nocturne, but rather all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests.” The first movement, “Nuages” (Clouds), contrasts quietly shifting chord sequences for strings and woodwind with a mournful repeated four-note figure, played by the cor anglais; the idea came to Debussy while standing on a bridge over the River Seine in Paris on an overcast day. In the brilliant sound-world of “Fêtes” (Festivals), a military band, depicted by the brass section, approaches from the distance and passes by in a blaze of full orchestral colour. Finally comes “Sirènes” (“Sirens”), where a wordless female chorus suggests the alluring singing of the bird-women of Greek mythology, while the orchestra depicts the surrounding moonlit sea.